The Empire Strikes Back
by VX-145
Summary: SEELE's plans may have gotten a little messed up. Now, there's five more Evangelion pilots then there should be, and more on the way. Are things going to turn out for the better, or the worse? I think we both know the answer to that. [AU, based off of the series, no there isn't any Star Wars I'm just bad at titles]
1. Chapter 1

**Author message (30/11/2014):  
**Hey readers, just a quick survey. As you are probably not aware, most of the reason why I'm writing this is as practice; I figured letting people tear my writing to shreds in public was somehow the best way to do so. Anyway, I'd like to know what people think; if there's a chapter or section that puts you off, let me know which one and why. If you don't want to leave a review, just PM me or something. Apologies if this seems a little incoherent; it's kind of 3am where I am.

Anyway, on with the story:

* * *

**WALES**

**March 19, 2006**

The sound of dying soldiers filled the air. Volley after volley of artillery fire rained down – along with actual rain – on the final, pitiful, defensive line the British soldiers had set up. Entire lengths of trenches were wiped out in an instant; the only thing keeping the line reasonably intact was that most of the trenches and bunkers weren't occupied.

A company of American tanks rolled in after the artillery, firing on the move to suppress what little defensive fire could be mustered. Behind them poured an entire division of infantry, reservist National Guard who had been called up in the latest round of sermons from the American Patrician.

A pair of British tanks held the line, hull-down in concealed positions. True to tradition, their crews fired round after round of precisely-aimed armour-piercing ammunition, knocking out several of the American Abrams tanks before one of the omnipresent American planes carpeted the entire grid square they were in with cluster munitions.

* * *

Less than a mile away, a six-year-old boy lay, nearly dead. A pair of medics were rushing him to a huge hangar bay, where the nominal commander of the defenders was arguing with a man in a lab coat.

"I came here because you said you had a weapon that could save us!" shouted the army officer. "Here I am, and you have a half-finished... thing and a dying child!"

"It will work," said the other man, calmly. "It's finished enough to move, and he only has to survive long enough for us to put him into it."

The officer relaxed, and let out a breath. "Do whatever you wish. I'm going to see if I can scrounge up enough soldiers to man one last defence. Get that thing working; you've borrowed three days from my men and I don't have enough left to get you another hour. Your life depends on this," he said. He looked at the boy, briefly. "Poor kid," he said, walking out of the hangar, "it'd probably be more merciful just to let him die here..."

* * *

The boy woke to a strange metal tube, wires running from his body into the chair he sat on. He was dimly aware of the tube filling up with some sort of liquid, but between his injuries and the drugs the medics had given him he wasn't entirely sure what was real any more. Voices seemed to float from nowhere – was that a radio, or was he hearing things as he died? He tried to focus, and only succeeded in making himself throw up. The liquid had reached his mouth, and the blood that had been pooling in there since he woke up was displaced by... more blood? The liquid – whatever it was – seemed a lot easier to breathe than air at the moment. Was he being treated in a hospital?

The walls of the tube suddenly burst into colour, and a spike of pain drove itself into the boy's head. Somehow, it managed to hurt even more than the bullets had, like some part of his mind and soul was being torn from the rest of him...

* * *

He noticed he was now outside, rain dripping from one of his arms. He seemed to be in a model town or something – all of the buildings looked tiny. He vaguely remembered a book about a man who found himself on an island filled with miniature people, and wondered if he'd managed to enter a book. He saw a tank, far below him on the ground. It seemed to be moving; he figured he must be dreaming. The day he'd read that book someone – who? - had pointed out all of the reasons why people were people-sized, and how people the size of dolls couldn't exist.

His thoughts were broken by a blow from above.

He felt blood trickle into his eye, and pain, and rage-

* * *

"Holy SHIT!" screamed one of the officers. "THE FUCK IS THAT THING?"

The gigantic humanoid thing ran – _RAN_ – through the American front line, scattering tanks like children's toys. One of the army's chaplains knelt, hands knotted together, whispering a frantic prayer.

"Please, lord, forgive us in this hour, spare us the wrath of-"

"It's still three miles out! Get the arty and the flyboys to pound it back into the dirt!"

"Warthogs and the Spooky are responding. The arty..."

An explosion lit up the sky.

"...We just lost contact with the artillery, sir."

"What? HOW?"

* * *

The boy reached out with his mind, and laughed as an entire flank of the enemy disappeared into the orange glow. Shells flew at him, only to hit the orange field. One of the American aircraft, an ungainly beast, flew too close. He lashed out with his hand, and swatted it out of the sky.

Tears streaming down his face, his mouth stretched into an insane laugh, the boy continued his rampage.

* * *

"That thing's done more damage to us in two and a half minutes than the entire British military has done before now." The General rested his head in his hands. He knew what the price would be for this failure, even if he escaped. "Have they authorised the nuclear strike?"

One of the colonels, radio held to his ear, shook his head.

"Call the retreat."

* * *

"WHERE. DO. YOU. THINK. YOU. ARE. GOING?!" The laugh/scream rang out across the battlefield, through the rain-soaked hills of Wales. The fleeing elements of the American expeditionary force tried to speed up in response, risking everything just for a slightly larger gap between them and the rampaging beast behind them.

The boy let out one final scream, liquefying every living thing in a two-mile radius, and collapsed, empty.

* * *

Note: So, this is the second pass on this chapter. Mostly just making it not as shit as it was before (I might re-upload the original as an extra at the end of the story, just so people can see how bad it was).


	2. Chapter 2

**SEPTEMBER 2nd, 2010**

"_On today's show, we're joined by none other than Li Jie, the People's Evangelion Corps' star pilot. So, Li, what's it like to_-"

CLICK

"_The United Nations General Assembly once again failed to decide on any resolution regarding the current conflict in America-"_

CLICK

"_-Jane, I would have to say that it's a path only for -"_

CLICK

_-Tokyo-3 University, you can be among Earth's best and brightest. Join us, and work with NERV's Evangelion programme! With subsidised tuition and a guaranteed place in NERV when you graduate, there's no reason to -"_

CLICK, THUD

The television was turned off, the standby switch on the remote being pressed shortly before said remote was thrown onto the floor. Shinji Ikari sat staring into space for several seconds, like he always did when his father's company was mentioned; his teacher had long ago decided that pressing the subject was not worth his time, along with a lot of other things. He sighed, and looked up at the ceiling.

_All that seems to be on these days is stuff about Evangelions_, thought the child. He picked the remote up again, from where he'd thrown it, and turned the television on again.

"_-EAKING NEWS! The BBC World Service can confirm that a British force, including Evangelion Unit 07 has attacked the American defensive line along the Mississippi River at St. Louis! American sources say that they've broken the Ash Wednesday Truce, mere minutes before it was set to expire, but the British Government claims that they attacked the very second the truce expired. We go – live - to our attached reporter with the Royal Dragoon Guards. Luke, how're things over there?"_

Shinji watched as the picture on the screen changed from the newsroom to... well, something which looked a lot like hell probably looked like. The cameraman and reporter were standing behind a row of tanks, which were parked while their crews took an opportunity to relax. The square they were in was wrecked; an office block of some sort had been brought down in the fighting and was blocking one of the roads leading into the square. An aeroplane had crashed just in front of the line of tanks, a large, propeller-driven beast.

"_\- right now, May, it seems that there's been some sort of problem with the Evangelion; the soldiers I've spoken to say they were supposed to be on the other side of the city by now. It's no secret that Unit 07 is one of the more temperamental Evangelions, and the recent modifications the Royal Navy has made to it cannot be- wait. Something's happening!"_

The cameraman turned to face one of the buildings on the far side of the square, just as a gigantic humanoid figure was thrown backwards through it. The Evangelion was squat, bulky and bristling with weapons; it managed to put a foot behind it to balance itself, crushing the plane Shinji had noticed earlier. Soldiers scattered, and the line of tanks pulled backwards. The cameraman ran alongside the reporter, then came to a stop.

"_Holy SHIT!"_ came the reporter's voice, _"Max, get a zoom on the other one!" _Striding through the ruins of the building came another Evangelion, this one sporting an American flag over its right chestplate; it was larger than the first Evangelion. _"Ladies and gentlemen, I have no words to explain what's going on here. We're seeing history made right here..."_

Shinji watched, wide-eyed, as the two titans squared off to fight.

**St. Louis**

"Mike, what's going on over there?" came the voice over the radio. "The entire advance is blocked! We need this city cleared by the end of the day!"

"I am slightly preoccupied!" snapped Michael. He fired a salvo of missiles from the launchers mounted on Unit 07's shoulders, grimacing as they bounced off of the other Evangelion's AT Field. A small sensation in his mind told him his ammunition reserves were empty, while another told him he was rapidly approaching his mental limit for this fight. He was already beginning to get annoyed with things; he'd snapped at the Colonel on the other side of the radio link. If this kept up, he'd go berserker again, and he wasn't sure the restraints would stop it this time...

The other Evangelion threw itself at him, and he pushed his own AT Field up to try to block it. There was a clash, and he physically felt the other Evangelion pushing its own Field against his. The spikes of lightning generated by the interaction of the two Fields arced away – he noticed one vapourising a building unfortunate enough to be in the way – and he could feel the other pilot's scream of rage as the American tried to push through his AT Field.

That was when something weird happened; somehow, the other Evangelion's AT Field became invisible to his own. The American tripped, not expecting the sudden change to the battlefield. Michael took the advantage offered, and punched the other Evangelion in the side of the head. The force of the punch threw it sideways, into another building. The other pilot reacted quickly, drawing a knife from its shoulder rack and stabbing Michael – no, he shook himself – stabbing _Unit 07_ in the stomach. The thick armour plating that was Unit 07's trademark meant that only the blade's tip actually managed to pierce his – no, _IT'S_ – skin, but that was all the excuse the other presence in his mind needed. He roared, picking the larger Evangelion up by the throat and shoving it into yet another building.

When Michael regained control, it was after the Evangelion's on-board batteries had exhausted themselves – or maybe the other presence had just drained them and continued fighting regardless, as had happened before. He slumped forwards in his seat, eyes closing as he drifted into unconsciousness.

He hoped that he hadn't killed the other pilot.


	3. Chapter 3 (Part 1 of 2)

**October 25th, 2010**

"- So could you please recount the events of September 3rd? No more lies, please, Lieutenant," said the judge sitting at the head of the courtroom. Michael stood up from the chair he'd been assigned, straightening his uniform.

"Your honour," he began, his childish voice at odds with the flatness of his tone, "I'd like to say again that I haven't lied once today. All the things I've said are as I saw them." This drew some dark looks from one section of the audience, but he forced himself to ignore them. It wouldn't be a very good idea to panic here, after all. "As I was getting to before I was interrupted, after getting out of Unit Seven's cockpit I made my way over to the other Evangelion..." His mind drifted as he retold what had happened.

**September 3rd, 2010**

Michael staggered as he fell out of the Evangelion's entry plug. He felt... weird, like he always did after he went berserker. He'd tried to contact the rest of the army when he work up, using the last vestiges of the backup power supplies to power the radios, but no-one seemed to be in range. He'd taken his survival kit from the cockpit, and tied his pistol holster around his waist. It wasn't the first time he'd had to survive for a while behind enemy lines. If he was even behind enemy lines, that is – he didn't see anyone when he switched on some of the Evangelion's sensors, except for the other Evangelion.

Parts of the fight started to flash into his mind. He remembered losing an arm at some point – his left arm still ached at the elbow, and he had to bring his hand up to his face to make sure it was still there. He looked back at Unit 07, and sure enough, its left arm was missing below the elbow. Wait, no – there it was.

Clutched in its right hand.

**October 25th, 2010**

"I object! There is no way he could have fought on after losing his arm, much less used it as a weapon! He's just a kid, for fuck's sake!" The cry came from the Army General sitting just behind Michael, and slightly to the right. He forced himself to keep staring forwards, ignoring the interruption. _If I turn around,_ he thought, _I won't be able to keep talking. They aren't actually there, they're just background. The only other person here is the judge._ He snapped back to focus as the judge spoke.

"-jection overruled, and I would mind your language, General Hanson! The Lieutenant has shown time and again that injuries sustained during the "Berserker" state do not have the same effect as they would do on an ordinary human, and we have video evidence that Unit Seven did keep fighting after losing its arm. Remember that we have already decided that during the "Berserker" state, the Evangelion's actions are not those of its pilot, so the Lieutenant's own prowess as a soldier does not apply. Please continue, Lieutenant."

Michael nodded, and carried on.

**September 3rd, 2010**

Vomit spattered onto the ground as Michael threw up. In front of him lay the enemy Evangelion, or rather, what was left of it. He'd nearly ripped its head off at some point, and it lay with the back of its head resting against one of its shoulders. The knife it had stabbed him with was stabbed into the very centre of its chest, where armour, skin and bone had been ripped back to reveal a cracked red sphere. Blood ran everywhere, and as he knelt down to vomit again he noticed he was standing – now kneeling it it.

Tears began joining the vomit, and he just knelt there for a while. It was never easy, seeing what the other presence had done, but this was by far the worst thing he'd seen. _Only so far_, an evil little voice in his mind said.

Laughing, he stood up and made his way to the building the wrecked Evangelion was slumped against; the only piece of intact cover in sight. The other presence had probably seen to that. He drew his pistol as a reflex when he stepped inside, the training he'd been doing whenever he wasn't actively fighting taking over. The part of his mind that could still think in tactical terms told him that the gigantic corpse outside may have concealed anyone inside the building.

He started making his way to the building's roof, where he could set up his recovery beacon. He was just coming onto the fifteenth – or maybe sixteenth? - floor when something hit him in the back, throwing him onto the floor. The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the building, and he realised his pilot's suit had just saved his life.

Michael pushed himself up and into cover, two more gunshots pinging after him. He pulled his head down, simultaneously forcing himself to ignore the panic building inside his head, and waited. One. Two. Three. Fo- There! His attacker had moved, probably trying to get into a better position.

He brought his pistol up, searching for the enemy, lining up a shot – and that was when the part of his mind that wasn't running on autopilot took over, taking his finger off the trigger and reaching for the survival kit with his off hand. His attacker hadn't been moving to get a better shot.

Slumped up against the ruins of a wall, pistol held in a loose grip, was a girl about his age, wearing the helmet and form-fitting suit similar to what he wore. Behind her was the cockpit of the other Evangelion; the emergency ejection system had saved her life, but the escape rockets had propelled her to the other side of the building. He rushed over to the girl, holstering his pistol. She tried to raise her own, but dropped it as Michael reached her, taking a medical kit from the bag. He put himself through a breathing exercise as he checked the girl for injuries. _I'm going to panic soon_, the analytical part of his brain thought_, but before that I need to make sure she's alright and set the beacon. Panic later, focus now_. The girl was staring at him, still awake, so he spoke.

"Hi there," he said, "I'm going to get you patched up, okay?" He'd heard the line from some war movie or other – it seemed to be something medics told their patients. "I'm sorry about what happened out there," he continued as the girl kept staring at him. He checked her again – she was still breathing but her leg seemed to be broken (_And she's lucky she got away with just a broken leg_, thought the evil voice in his head, _Last time I ejected it was a whole lot worse_), so he set up a splint with a piece of wood he found. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said. _Maybe bringing up the fight is a bad idea. Let's talk about something else_, he thought. "My name's Michael – I've got a beacon in my bag, once I get it set up we can get you to a proper hospital."

The girl's eyes widened. "Don't!" she shouted, reaching for the bag, "They'll know where we are!" Something in her voice seemed... strange, but Michael tried to be reassuring anyway.

"I'm with the British – a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy – they're not going to hurt you. And I hope that if your guys get here first, you'll cover fo-"

"Mine aren't going to come! There's a... a... missile on the way, that was the backup plan! A nuke!"

That did it. Michael began to panic.

**October 25th, 2010**

"Are you telling me that you – an officer of the Royal Navy, sworn to uphold its honour and traditions - panicked on the field of battle?" came the question from behind (and slightly to the right). Another voice from behind – this one right behind him – saved him from turning around.

"And are _you_ telling _me,_ General, that if you heard the United States was willing to risk – was, in fact, risking - a nuclear war solely to kill _you_, that you wouldn't panic? After the known stresses of piloting an Evangelion, and after witnessing the aftermath of the world's first – and hopefully only - Evangelion-on-Evangelion battle? Soldiers panic, General, I'm sure you know this." The commanding officer of the Royal Navy's Evangelion Task Force, Admiral Oliver Jones, spoke for the first time since the court had convened. There was a pause as both sides stared at each other, then the General broke the silence.

"I withdraw my comment. Carry on, Lieutenant."

Michael took a breath, finishing a breathing exercise, and continued.

**September 3rd, 2010**

It took Michael thirty seconds to calm down, aided by his breathing exercises. It took him several more to start trying to think of a plan, and a few more to focus back on the present. "Why aren't we dead already, then?" he asked, finally.

"They might be waiting for something. I don't know!" said the girl.

The tactical side of his brain took over, cataloguing every possible option. Only one seemed to offer any opportunity of survival. "Can you walk?" he said, packing up the survival kit and slinging it across his back.

The girl shook her head. "I don't think I can walk very fast. Trying to outrun it's not going to work, anyway."

Michael pulled the girl up, supporting her as he started to walk back down the stairs. "We're not going to outrun it," he said. "If we can get to Unit Seven, we might be able to survive. The armour might be able to take the blast if it's not a direct hit."

The two of them staggered into the dawn outside the building, taking care not to look at the corpse propped up against it. Getting back into Unit 07 took a little effort, but the other presence had been considerate enough to leave the cockpit close to the ground. Michael turned the handle which operated the plug's manual insertion system, grunting with effort, while the girl sat in the pilot's seat and tried to find enough power to project an AT Field. The Evangelion's sensors came back online as the last armour panel clanged shut behind the cockpit. One signature was clearly visible on the radar screen, closing fast. One minute. "There's your missile," Michael said. "Any luck?"

"None," the girl replied. "We don't even have enough power to charge the LCL. Synchronisation doesn't take that much power, but we don't have enough to keep either of us synced for more than three seconds. We're probably going to lose sensors soon – it was a choice between that or the LCL."

Forty seconds.

"Are you sure you're speaking English?" Michael said, "I barely got half of that."

"The idiot's version is that we're probably going to die. Your name's Mike, right?" the girl said.

"Michael. I hate it when people call me "Mike". I'm not a child," Michael replied. Twenty seconds.

The girl took off her helmet, revealing a smiling, green-eyed face lined by brown hair. "My name's Rose," she said. Michael took off his helmet in return, waiting for the reaction. "Huh. I can honestly say I've never seen blue hair before," said Rose. Ten seconds. "Or red eyes." Nine.

Michael laughed, briefly losing count. The sensor screens went dark, whatever power Rose had scavenged running out.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

On-

Something roared.

Notes:

I dislike doing this (I prefer keeping notes like this in the review section), but there's a couple of things that may need clarification.

Firstly, these past three chapters (plus the next one or two) are serving as an extended prologue. We'll get to see some Angels at some point, don't worry.

Secondly, if you notice anything weird about the formatting etc, please tell me. This format doesn't quite like the format I'm using to write the story, and when I copy/paste across weird things happen.


	4. Chapter 4 (Part 2 of 2)

**October 25th, 2010**

"Luckily, they must have targeted Unit Four rather than Unit Seven; we were just outside the epicentre of the blast and the armour let us survive. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for one side or another to pick us up," Michael said.

"And nothing happened in the interim?" the judge asked.

"No, sir," Michael replied. "We only had the air in the plug to breathe, and neither of us wanted to get a lungful of fallout so going outside was out of the question. We just sat there for a while – didn't even talk."

"So what happened when General Hanson and his soldiers arrived?"

"The first we heard of their arrival was them knocking on the entry plug..."

**September 3rd, 2010**

The cockpit opened with a clang, a pair of rifle barrels shoved through the opening before Michael could react. A bright light blinded him for a moment. When he recovered, he raised his hands, motioning for Rose to do the same.

"Come on out," said a voice from outside the cockpit, so Michael jumped down through the hole, helped by a gloved hand.

A man in an Royal Army officer's uniform – a general - stood, surrounded by soldiers. Each had their rifle pointed at Michael. Behind the group, a pair of transport helicopters waited, rotor blades spinning. A gunship VTOL – one of the latest models, Michael noted – hovered above, its guns trained on Unit 07.

"Relax, sir," Michael begun, hands still raised. "We're on the same side. I'm Lieutenant -" A blow from behind cut him off. One of the soldiers who'd brought him out had hit him with his rifle.

"You're under arrest, Lieutenant. The charges are insubordination, misappropriation of Army resources, and interference with an Army operation resulting in the failure of said operation and the deaths of – who the hell is this?" said the officer, as Rose climbed down from the cockpit.

"The other Evangelion's pilot, sir," Michael said, forcing his mind to think tactically again. _I can't panic now_, he thought_, I need to think of a way out of this. Why is this even happening?_ The general smiled as he processed what Michael said. It wasn't a nice smile.

"Let's add "aiding an enemy combatant in a time of war" to your list of charges, shall we?" he said. _So that's it_, Michael thought, _this is a power play or something. _A sense of relief washed over him – he wouldn't have to deal with this alone. _The Admiral's not going to like this._

"I would like it on the record," Michael said, "That she's a prisoner of war and not an enemy combatant."

"Prisoners of war, Lieutenant, don't often carry pistols. At least, not in the Army. And it's "Sir", Lieutenant -"

A voice broke Michael from his memory.

**October 25th, 2010**

"I object! He's manipulating his testimony to make me sound unreasonable! I presented him with his charges and placed him under arrest, and that is _all_ I did!" General Hanson shouted. The judge glared at the general, and Michael relaxed a little. _Keep annoying the judge, General, and this should be over soon._

"Objection overruled! We have witness testimony from your own soldiers in the form of their helmet footage, and the Lieutenant's charge sheet clearly shows that "Aiding an enemy combatant in a time of war" was added _after_ the other charges. The Lieutenant's testimony so far has been far more accurate than your own, General," said the judge. "Continue, Lieutenant."

"That was pretty much all of it, sir. The General took me into custody, and I spent a lot of time in a cell," said Michael.

"Very well then. Now that all the testimony and evidence has been submitted, the court will adjourn to decide on a ruling. Unless anyone has any further objections?" said the judge, looking pointedly at General Hanson.

Michael was marched out of the courtroom by two military police officers, and into a deserted canteen set aside for his use. Another of the General's ploys, it seemed; he could have sworn that the accused was normally allowed to mix with people during breaks. Or maybe that was just on the TV.

He sat on one of the long tables, hands unconsciously folding in front of his face as he stared at the guards. They sat in silence for a few minutes, until a woman brought in some food. Michael looked at the plate, and sighed. _Yup. Spaghetti, boiled potatoes and gravy_, he thought,_ it's like someone went through my file and found all the foods I hate... and then mixed them together. Either that or the cooking staff here are really, really bad._ He pushed the plate to the guards, motioning them to eat. "I'm not hungry," he said. It was true; even though he hadn't eaten since waking up early enough to see the dawn (_not that the dawn today was even worth looking at_, he thought_, bloody clouds everywhere_), the concoction he'd been given had been enough to deal with his hunger.

Neither of the guards moved. _So it's going to be like that_, Michael thought, and settled in for a long wait. He was, in fact, just about to fall asleep when another guard walked into the room – slamming the doors open, of course – and declared that the judge was ready to give a verdict.

"All rise," said the MP acting as bailiff. Michael hadn't bothered sitting down; he got the feeling he was going to be on his feet for a while.

The judge finally took his seat, and began the proceedings. "After reviewing the evidence and testimony given to me by the various concerned parties, I am now ready to give my verdict," he said. "Firstly, on the charge of "Misappropriation of Army resources", the defence has made it clear that the resources concerned were properly signed for in accordance with Army regulations. Therefore, I am dismissing this charge. Secondly, on the charge of "Interference with an Army operation", I draw the court's attention to two facts. Firstly, the Navy's Evangelion Task Force was explicitly asked to assist in the St. Louis operation. Secondly, as mentioned before, Unit Seven's actions when berserker are not those of its pilot. On the basis of these two points, I am dismissing this charge. Thirdly, I am dismissing the charge of "Aiding an enemy combatant in a time of war" on the grounds that the person described as an enemy combatant was, in fact, a prisoner of war, and that even if she was a combatant it is a soldier's duty to save people – regardless of affiliation – in a situation like the one the Lieutenant found himself in."

Michael let out a sigh of relief. It seemed he'd won.

"However!" _Shit._ The judge was still talking. "The charge of "insubordination" still stands. The Lieutenant's remarks to Colonel Jones during the battle for St. Louis were unprofessional, and disrespectful of the chain of command. Therefore, I find the defendant guilty of this charge." Even though he hadn't turned around, Michael just knew the General was grinning. He felt his heart sink. "This military court gives me the power to determine whatever sentence I see fit for whatever offence I find the defendant guilty of," continued the judge. _Here it comes_, thought Michael. "It is traditional to ask the prosecution what punishment should be inflicted in these cases. I will not do so." Michael looked up in surprise. _What the hell is he up to?_ he thought. "I will instead remand the defendant into the custody of his superior officer, to be punished as said superior sees fit. Admiral Jones, I believe you are the Lieutenant's commanding officer?"

"Yes, sir," said the Admiral.

"Then the defendant is yours to deal with. This court is dismissed."

That, it seemed, was that.

It was several hours later by the time Michael and the Admiral managed to get back to friendly territory; a Navy frigate moored at a riverside. The city's famous archway sat before the bank opposite, somehow still intact. The Admiral ushered Michael into the ship's wardroom, a plate proclaiming that this ship was the HMS _Lancaster_. A row of battle honour showed the ship's history; Michael noted that he'd fought alongside the _Lancaster_ several times – Blackpool, the St. Lawrence Gulf, the Bahamas campaign, New Orleans...

"She's been with the Task Force since day one," said the Admiral. "The Red Rose was my first command, back in the nineties. I even took her through Second Impact. Strange to be aboard her again."

"I never noticed," replied Michael. His stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn't eaten yet today. "I hate to ask, sir, but could you please send for some food?"

"What," Admiral Jones said, "They didn't feed you? I'm pretty sure that's actually illegal, you should have said something."

"They gave me food, although calling it such would be a stretch even for General Hanson," Michael said.

The Admiral laughed. "I'll send for something. You want to eat now, or do you want to hear the news?"

Michael mulled it over. "News first. I've been out of the loop for way too long," he said.

"Well," the Admiral began, "It turns out St. Louis was the last straw. The Americans are suing for peace."

"That's... pretty big news. How come they didn't mention that in court?" Michael asked.

"Hanson kept you separate from everyone else, and your guards were his men. Anyway, that's not all of it. Apparently, the UN's pushing from their end too. There's some debate over whether or not we get to keep anything, but even if they let us we'd probably just let the people involved form their own countries or something. We're stretched way too thin to have another Empire."

"Are they ever going to tell us why they attacked? Aside from the normal excuses, anyway," Michael asked.

"I doubt it. Some conspiracy nuts are saying that they knew about Unit Seven before they invaded and _that_'s why, but it doesn't hold up. _We_ didn't know about Unit Seven until you brought down half the invasion force, and the CIA's a bunch of amateurs compared to MI6. It's probably going to be debated until the end of time or possibly until people stop caring. But the real fun is some of the consequences of this whole "peace" thing. As part of the deal, we're getting every last bit of the United States' Evangelion programme. That's not as good as it sounds; they managed to get Unit Three out of the country and into Israel's custody before they nuked St Louis – and let me tell you that's been like dropping an incendiary on an oil depot – but we get their data, equipment, and most importantly, their personnel."

"Tell me this isn't going where I think it's going, sir."

"It is. We were running tests with Rose in Unit Seven while you were in custody." The Admiral noticed the look on Michael's face, and continued quickly. "Before you say anything, the techs are saying she's not quite able to use Unit Seven as well as you; I couldn't understand a word they said but it seems she'll be in training for solo ops for a while."

"You say "solo ops" like there's an alternative..."

"You're quick on the uptake today, Mike. The techs said there's a way to solve your berserker problem, so they've rigged up a dual-pilot system. The idea is, you do the actual piloting while she keeps you from going berserker, watches your back with the on-board weapons and also operates the nuclear reactor we're giving you."

"Wait, _what_? Aren't those... kind of dangerous?" Michael shuddered at the thought of carrying around a nuclear bomb strapped to his back.

"Not as much as people think. Most of our submarines carry them, and they don't have the advantage of the AT Field to protect them from incoming fire. Besides, the design we're giving you is heavily automated, and Rose is actually pretty smart; the techs say she's pretty much mastered the simulations. Besides, with the reactor you'll be able to operate nearly indefinitely, and we'll be able to start independent Evangelion operations. Combined with the Rapid Reaction System, and we can put an invasion force anywhere on the planet within twenty-four hours which is nearly impossible to defeat. With some recent advances in drone technology, and maybe some of those new three-d fabricators NERV has been hiding, and we can take over any country in three days. At least, that's how I sold it to Her Majesty; I just don't want to see you going berserker again. I still remember picking you up after the first time."

Michael smiled. "It's not like I want to go berserker, sir. It just... happens," he said. The conversation stalled for a while, both lost in thought. A rumble from Michael's torso broke the silence.

"I could use that food around about now, sir," Michael said.


	5. Chapter 5 - The End of the Beginning

**July 22nd, 2012**

Rei Ayanami sat on the bench in the cargo hold of a transport VTOL, hands folded in her lap. To an outside observer, she seemed cold, oblivious to all that was happening around her. In actual fact, she'd noted every detail in the hold when she'd sat down. Nothing had changed since then, except for the view outside the window opposite her, so that was what she paid attention to.

She was also getting rather bored, a feeling she was intimately familiar with (although she'd never admit it, especially not with the Commander in earshot. The Commander was _always_ in earshot), and hoped they'd land soon. They'd been flying over desert for the past three hours, sixteen minutes and twenty-eight seconds. If she'd worked it out right, they should arrive in three minutes and thirty seconds.

As if on cue, Doctor Akagi walked down the steps leading to the cockpit. _Approximately twelve hours since her last cigarette. She is going to be less cooperative than usual_, Rei noted to herself.

"Good morning, Rei," said the doctor, "Ready to go?"

"Yes," said Rei. _She knows I have been ready since we boarded_, she thought. She'd noticed other people had a habit of confirming information they should already know, even people as intelligent as Doctor Akagi. That was one of the things that made interacting with her so-called "peers" so boring.

Rei, on the other hand, remembered everything and saw everything. The only other person who even came close to her in terms of memory was the Commander.

The VTOL finally landed, at an airbase on the coast of Israel. She noted the beach about two kilometres eastwards, the position of the sun indicating it was about 10.30 in the morning, the rows of military aircraft – British Typhoons, French Rafaels, Russian Su-47s, Mi-24s and a Ka-52 – the layout of the airbase and a million other things. Her mind worked out the temperature outside (40 degrees Celsius), an approximation of how much the base and its contents (minus certain items which would skew the total, which came to 5 billion euros), and started to work out the number of sand grains in the airbase before she cancelled that thought to focus more attention on her mission.

She'd walked down the ramp of the VTOL on autopilot, leaving Doctor Akagi to talk to the crew who had brought Unit 00 over, and was standing before a group of people - six, she counted - about her age (if she had been one to complain, she would have thought something along the lines of "great, not again" at this point), clad in variations of the same suit she wore.

Evangelion pilots.

Two – one boy, one girl - wore the black colours and emblems of the Russian Army Evangelion Squadron, a roaring bear on its hind legs. Another pair – again, one male and one female - wore the green-highlighted suits of the Chinese People's Evangelion Corps, with the stylised crossed swords and dragon emblem emblazoned on their chest. The final pair (another male/female pair – she wondered if it was a natural pattern, then decided it was probably a conscious choice on the part of the various nations involved in order to see which gender was more suited to piloting) wore heavier armoured suits, with helmets, in the camouflage of the British Evangelion Task Force. Their emblem – much smaller than the other emblems, and in dull shades – was a sword behind a shield.

The last pilot was Asuka Langley Sorhyu. They'd met once before.

The redhead was arguing with one of the British pilots (over matters of seniority, it seemed), while the other stood watching the rest of the group. The rest of the pilots were mixing with one another, although she couldn't speak Russian or Chinese. _Note. Learn Russian and Chinese upon return_, she thought. The silent British pilot – the boy - noticed her, and waved her over.

"You're the First Child, then?" came the voice from beneath the helmet, in English. She could speak English, luckily. She nodded. "Captain Ayanami. Royal Navy's Evangelion Task Force. I'll be coordinating the operation, or rather Rose here" - he gestured to the other British pilot - "will. How many hours of combat training have you had with your Eva?"

She held up a finger to stall the question. Something had to be clarified. "Did you say "Captain Ayanami?"" she asked.

"Michael Ayanami's my name," replied the pilot. "Oh yeah, what's yours? It's been kind of hectic, I forgot to ask."

"Rei Ayanami," she said. The Captain didn't seem very surprised , although he did take a half-step backwards – he must have noticed her hair and eye colour. If he was related to her, then he would have similar features.

"I figured we were related," he said, confirming her theory, "blue hair and red eyes aren't very common, even these days." He reached up to his helmet, twisted it to break the seal, and removed it. A scarred face with red eyes looked at her, framed by short, sky-blue hair. "Anyway, on to business. We can sort out the family tree later. How many hours combat training?" asked Captain Ayanami, tucking his helmet under his arm. _Their suits must have some climate control,_ Rei thought, _he doesn't appear to be reacting to the heat._

"One hour and thirty-three minutes," she replied. The Captain sighed.

"Just typical," he said. "Aside from Li, me and Rose, no-one here has combat experience. Me and Rose are the only ones with anti-Evangelion combat experience, and we don't know how to replicate half of what happened in that fight. We're actively trying not to replicate the other half. The training situation's just as bad, although you've got the worst record out of anyone here."

She felt a need to defend herself at that. "I can maintain a synchronisation score of forty-four percent," she said. "A full five points above the average of thirty-nine percent."

"Sync scores don't matter," replied the Captain, massaging his temple with his free hand. "Sorry. I shouldn't be taking this out on you." For a moment, the Captain looked... scared?

"RIGHT," he shouted, breaking the moment and getting the attention of the other pilots – Rei noticed that Li Jie kept talking in Chinese, as did one of the Russians, probably translating - "Now that we're all here, it's time to actually reveal the mission. As I am sure you are aware, the state of Israel is undergoing a general collapse. Political analysts attached to the UN say that the state itself is in no danger of a complete failure. That said, last week Evangelion Unit Zero-Three was reported missing, along with its pilot. Me and Rose were shipped out here in case the worst happened, and two days ago it did. An unidentified group, comparable to the Israeli military in terms of size and equipment, took several cities spread across the entire Middle East, including Jerusalem, Baghdad and Tehran. When the Israelis launched a full-scale counter-attack on Jerusalem, their forces were confronted by Unit Three, and retreated with heavy casualties. Yesterday, the UN received a combined appeal from pretty much every state in the Middle East – including some that have grudges with each other going back to the nineteen hundreds – asking for help. That's why you're all here. We need to set an example to the world that the use of Evangelions in national warfare will no longer be tolerated, and to enforce the Vatican Treaty signed two years ago. That's the politics. The actual information you need to know is this – we have a rogue Evangelion along with a sizeable supporting army. We have no idea where it is – it could still be in Jerusalem but recon says they can't see it – we don't know what its capabilities are, and we don't know what their ultimate objective is. In short, things are pretty much as they always are on the battlefield." That drew a laugh from Li as he finished translating – Rei decided it was probably a joke common to soldiers. Captain Katsuragi back in Tokyo-3 had often made similar remarks.

"Now, Pilot Officer Sorhyu brought up the rather thorny question of command earlier," continued the Captain. The other pilots looked concerned at this. "Technically speaking, we'll be reporting to the commander of the UN task force. Practically speaking, that's going to be difficult. She's got to manage a multinational coalition which has about thirty different nations providing troops, including a mixed British and French contingent. Off the record, that was a bit of a mistake on the part of the politicians, but Her Majesty and the French President want to push the whole "union" thing so General Cellier has to put up with it. I almost pity the poor woman. Anyway, since the only officers with any experience of commanding Evangelions in the field are both half a planet away in either direction, the good General has delegated sorting out command issues to us. If I'm entirely honest I don't think she likes me very much." Again, Rei noticed, the use of humour seemed to defuse the tension generated by the topic under discussion.

"I have a proposal," Captain Ayanami continued, "But I don't want you to go along with it just because I'm the one who's been talking all this time. With the exception of Pilot Officer Sorhyu, who has complained enough for one lifetime, you're all free to voice your complaints." He paused for a moment – Rei couldn't decide if he was preparing to continue, like several of her classmates did when giving presentations to the class, or if he was just letting the translators catch up. "My idea is pretty simple. We divide into national groups – Russians, Chinese, and a final group made up of Unit Seven and the NERVlings." One of the Russians – the girl - muttered something to the other, and both of them laughed. "Okay," said the Captain, smiling, "repeat that for those who don't speak Russian, please."

"Tatyana said "Unit Seven and the NERVlings sounds like a band"," said the male Russian – the translator. Captain Ayanami laughed, as did the other pilots.

"Maybe once this is over," he said. "But I'm pretty sure I'd be a terrible musician. Anyway, since Unit Seven is equipped with a reactor we can act as a mobile charging station, and with our enhanced comms arrays we're the best suited to act as coordinator. We'll take the centre, with the other two groups two minutes' travel time to our left and right as we advance. If something comes up and we need to split up further, whoever's normally in command of the national groups can take over. We've been ordered to advance before the UN Coalition, so that's not too likely to happen, but it's always safer to be prepared."

"What about language?" asked the English-speaking Russian. "Between us we speak five different languages. How are we supposed to coordinate?"

"Actually, it's more like seven different languages. I speak Latin and Rose speaks Spanish. Regardless, I was assuming we'd use English, and whoever doesn't speak English can get a translation from someone. There are translators back at command, I'll see about getting a few assigned into our comms," replied the Captain.

"It almost sounds like you've put some thought into this," said Asuka. "But my Unit Two isn't like any of these other Evas; it's far faster and more agile. Shackling it to your lumbering hulk is a waste."

"Which is why you won't be shackled," said Rose. The Captain glanced at her for a second (_reprimand or surprise?_ thought Rei) and nodded. "What we're doing is basically a textbook deployment. The forces in the centre are supposed to act as a rapid reaction force to assist either flank, and vice versa. That's a role your Unit Two is well suited for; Unit Seven has the artillery to act as long-range support, Unit Zero can act as a reserve, but neither are fast enough to reach the flanks if urgent help is needed."

Captain Ayanami picked up the conversation. "If it looks like I've planned this in advance, it's because I have," he said, "and so has the Eva Task Force as a whole. On top of that, we don't need to decide where to go strategy-wise – we're tied to the coalition's main battlegroup. Any other ideas, or comments?"

There was silence for a few seconds, after the translators had finished.

"We have about two hours before the battlegroup starts to form up. Catch some sleep, a shower, food – whatever. Just report to your Evas at thirteen-fifteen hours. At thirteen-thirty, Evangelion season is officially open."

* * *

Michael climbed into the forward pilot's chair of Unit 07, linking the wires relaying his nerve impulses to the massive war machine into the slots riddling his body. Even at minimal power, and all of the restraints at maximum, he could feel the wind whistling through the cracks in the Eva's armour, the weight of the armour against his skin, the bulk of the reactor on his back...

Rose sat in the chair behind him, facing back towards the reactor. Unlike his seat, which had nothing between it and the walls of the entry plug, hers was lined with computer monitors. As she began the synchronisation procedure, his mind began to merge with hers; he knew what the various monitors said without having to turn around, although their minds were still separate enough that he didn't know what the graphs and numbers actually meant.

LCL began flooding into the plug. He popped the seal on his helmet, letting the fluid into his lungs. Apparently, it helped with synchronisation.

"Synchronisation complete," said Rose, her voice echoing in his mind a second before she spoke. "Pilot-to-Evangelion synchronisation holding at forty percent. Pilot-to-pilot synchronisation at thirty-six percent and rising. Reactor status nominal. All systems are green. Releasing final safety locks in three... two... one." The scaffolding holding Unit 07 in place slid away, and Michael was able to move again _for the first time in months_ – no, Unit 07 was free to move. _Keep a distinction between pilot and Eva,_ echoed Admiral Jones' voice in his head. He hadn't felt the other presence try to take control since they'd enacted the dual-pilot system, but it still twisted his thoughts. "You okay, Michael?" asked Rose from behind him. "One of the computers just gave me an Ego Border warning, whatever that is, and then we just lost a point of PE-sync."

"I'm fine," he replied. "Commence operation. Unit Zero and Two, form up on me. Units Five and Six, take the left. Eight and Nine, you're on the right." A flurry of acknowledgements came back over the radio, so Michael took a step. He felt the Evangelion's massive boot sink into the sand a little, tonnes of sand being trapped inside the armour plating. _That's going to be a pain_, he thought. "Bring up the tactical display," he said. A window opened on his helmet's visor, a blue two-dimensional map showing the positions of the battlegroup. Behind the line of Evangelions was the British/French division, a solid block of tanks and infantry carriers. Michael separated the icons to see who had drawn the short straw from the Army, and laughed when the tab showing the divisional commander's name showed up. _General Hanson has fallen a long way since St. Louis_, he noted. A Russian artillery unit was acting in support, with anti-aircraft cover provided by Israeli mobile SAM launchers. Two and a half divisions, in total, with eight more acting independently in other areas. He watched, still walking towards the rally point, as the other Evangelions slid into formation. "Rabbit Lead to all Rabbit elements, confirm readiness," he said.

"Rabbit Four to Rabbit Lead. Flight two is ready," came the reply from the Russians.

"Rabbit Six to Rabbit Lead. Rabbit Seven's having some problems but it won't delay us much," said the Chinese. That was to be expected – Unit Nine (designated Rabbit Seven) had only been declared combat-worthy two months ago.

"Rabbit Lead to Longbow," he reported to the Coalition's commander, "Be advised that we're running a few minutes behind schedule." He switched radio channels back to the pilots' channel. "Rabbit elements, continue confirmation."

"Rabbit Two to Lead. Ready." said Rei from Unit 00. He hadn't had chance to speak with her before the operation. Hopefully he'd be able to catch her before she disappeared back off to Japan.

"Rabbit Three to Rabbit Lead. I'm at one hundred percent. Why are we "Rabbit", anyway?" That would be Asuka. He decided he had time to answer this one, and grinned as he remembered why.

"Partially because it's ironic – rabbits aren't known for fighting - but mostly it's kind of traditional. Anyone ever see the film "Battle of Britain?"" replied Michael. A chorus of negative replies came back, although he could feel Rose smiling behind him. She knew where this was going. "Well, it's about these fighter pilots during... well, the Battle of Britain," he continued, "and they're outnumbered ten-to-one, with their backs up against the wall. It's pretty much post-war propaganda. One of the RAF fighter squadrons is called "Rabbit" squadron, and that became my callsign back in the British Isles Campaign. One pilot, inexperienced going against an entire army and winning. My superior's a massive fan of war movies – I must have seen that damned film a hundred times."

"You have got to be kidding me!" shouted Asuka. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! You're not even Air Force, you... you..." the radio link dissolved into a mess of cursing in German, Japanese and English, and Michael could have sworn he saw the seat's speakers glow red out of the corner of his eye. He switched off his microphone, and laughed. He hadn't expected such a reaction.

"We're coming up on rally point Alpha," said Rose from behind him, when things had died down. "Three klicks out from target."

"Got it," he said. "Alright, Rabbits. We're about to enter a warzone. Your mobile chargers will detach soon, so keep an eye on your batteries. Keep your fields up, stay vigilant, and radio me if you need advice. If you spot Unit Three, radio it in immediately. Don't try to take it out on your own. We have the advantage in numbers, supply, weaponry and experience, but they might have some sort of plan." Acknowledgements came through the radio, so he reported in to General Cellier. "Rabbit is ready to engage. Give the order, ma'am."

The General's voice came back, her French accent nearly making it impossible to make out the words. "Order is given," she said, "Rabbit may advance."

"Order is given, Rabbits," Michael said, switching back to the pilots' channel. "Advance and engage."

* * *

Unit 00 stalked through the streets of Jerusalem, a rifle held at the ready. The buildings surrounding her were low, but the ridges and hills the city was built on could hide the enemy Evangelion, not to mention the network of tunnels the Coalition engineers had reported. It almost rivalled the work being done in Tokyo-3, although Jerusalem wasn't built on top of a massive cavern.

Unit 07 was walking slightly in front of her, occasionally pausing to loose a salvo of missiles or obliterate a building with the rotary cannons mounted at various points on its body. Once, it had stopped for a minute, deploying the massive siege-grade artillery cannon (_forty five point seven centimetre BAE "Trebuchet" double-barrelled siege cannon, _Rei thought. It was occasionally annoying how precise she had to be.) and aiming it at a point in the distance. A few seconds (_fifteen point six three seconds_) later, it had retracted the gun, whatever emergency it had been brought out for dealt with.

Unit 02 had been sent on ahead, to the other side of the city. Asuka had been complaining about how little she'd been able to do in the attack, and Captain Ayanami (_it is going to take a while to get used to calling someone else "Ayanami"_, Rei thought) had sent her off when she began to annoy his co-pilot. Unit 02 was equipped to draw power from the city's grid, so she hadn't returned for a while.

The other Evangelions had reported no contact so far, occasionally returning to recharge. Rei was almost beginning to get bored.

That was, of course, when Unit Three showed up.

* * *

"Contact left!" came a voice over the radio, breaking Michael from his thoughts. Rei had shouted (_it still sounds quiet_, he noted) at the same time as Rose, a red mark appearing on the tactical display.

He spun, drawing the Siege Cannon into anti-Evangelion mode, and came face-to-face with the enemy Evangelion.

It didn't look right.

Some sort of blue substance leaked out from the joints in its armour, and it had ripped its mouth-guard off, revealing a row of teeth covered in more of the blue... stuff. Michael staggered backwards as it roared, barely avoiding its first blow. A part of his mind noted a voice calling the other members of Rabbit to help as he triggered the rotary cannons. Hundreds of rounds sparked off of Unit 03's AT Field every second, the blows doing nothing to slow it down. Rei joined in with her rifle, her own shots doing little more. A warning flashed in front of one of his pairs of eyes, and he waved it away. He brought his arm up to block the next blow, feeling the enemy's AT Field become invisible, waited a second for its head to line up just a bit more...

Then he triggered the Siege Cannon.

The explosion kicked up a massive dust cloud, and flung Unit 07 back down the street. He stood up, reloading the cannon, and waited for the smoke to clear. He motioned for Rei to fall back a little, in case he needed to fire again.

Headless, Unit 03 jumped out of the dust cloud and pushed Michael down into a row of houses. He fired the explosive bolts, ejecting the cannon, and punched at the enemy. It caught his fist, and some of the blue stuff started spreading to his hand. He screamed in pain as he felt it burn, then another warning flashed across his – yes, HIS, not the damned Eva's – eyes. The reactor was failing, the impact knocking some important component loose, and the failsafes had cut in. He was down to battery power.

Things were just getting better and better.

* * *

Rei circled the fight as the two Evas grappled, waiting for an opportunity. She had quickly figured out that they weren't just fighting a rogue Evangelion any more. _This could be a problem_, she thought, _If this is revealed as an Angel attack so soon, the Commander's plans could be in danger. It would be advantageous to allow the Angel to eliminate Captain Ayanami and his co-pilot in order to facilitate a cover-up._ She grappled with the idea for a while, as Unit 07's arm was infected by the Angel. The Captain's – _her brother's_ – screams echoed throughout the entire radio channel, and her mind fought itself over what to do. _Inaction would lead to his demise_, thought one half of her mind _Not to mention his co-pilot's!_

_That would assist the Commander, _thought the other half.

_He is family! _said the first half.

_We are prepared to kill our cousins to further the Commander's aims. Why not our brother too? We both know his presence is not in line with the Commander's plans. He will need to be eliminated at some point. That point may as well be now_, thought the second.

_That is untrue_, argued the first. _His presence may be unaccounted for, but so were many other factors which have since been co-opted, and probably many more that we do not know of. The Commander has been aware of Michael's existence for far longer than we have. He will have altered his plans._

_That is correct, but we cannot be sure that this precise situation is not his way of dealing with the Captain,_ said the second.

_If the Commander wanted Captain Michael Ayanami dead here, he would have told us about the Angel and ordered us not to intervene. He has not done so. Therefore, the Angel's appearance here is not part of his plan. Therefore, we should intervene in order to kill the Angel as swiftly as possible, as per our standing directives,_ reasoned a third part of her mind, the part she retreated to when she needed to make a decision. The other two parts of her mind fell silent, accepting her judgement. Three seconds had passed according to the battery timer, and Unit 07 was still active.

Her rifle had run out of ammunition after the initial engagement, so she drew her knife instead, ramming it into Unit 03's back. The Angel-infected Evangelion span around, releasing Unit 07, and swung an arm at her. She ducked underneath it, and stabbed her knife into the centre of the enemy's chest. For a moment, she thought she'd actually hit the core as Unit 03 slumped, before it drew back a leg and kicked her down the ridge.

That was all the reprieve Unit 07 needed. She saw it stand up, its infected left arm no longer lined with blue but still limp. Its right arm reached up to its back, drew a large knife – not a Progressive Knife, she noticed, but an actual blade of metal – and snapped into a guard position. Unit 03 turned around, closing the distance with the wounded Evangelion. It reached one freakishly long arm out, and Unit 07 cut it off. The Angel screamed – not a roar, but a scream of pain – and withdrew the bleeding stump, lashing out with the other arm and aiming at Unit 07's limp arm.

Unit 02 slammed into Unit 03 from above, slamming a pair of knives through its neck. Rei took the opportunity, ran towards the enemy Evangelion and thrust her own knife into its core.

An explosion washed over her, and she blacked out.

* * *

**2015**

"_Coalition Officials reported today that the rogue Evangelion, Unit Three, which was involved in a series of brutal terrorist attacks across the Middle East, was destroyed yesterday in an operation involving every single other operational Evangelion. The Royal Navy's Unit Seven and NERV's Unit Zero are reported to have been damaged in the fighting, and sources inside the Coalition have since reported that their pilots are still alive, although they are being treated for their wounds. General Cellier, the officer in charge of the Coalition, gave a short press conference on the operation praising the pilots involved for their courage and resolve in what she called "A tough battle"._

_Next on the show: We have an exclusive interview with Firefly actor Nathan Fillion, as -"_

Shinji Ikari turned the television off, having learned all that he could from the report. There had been some shaky video footage, apparently recovered from a phone, but it hadn't really been worth his time.

A mass of paper surrounded his seat, along with several bowls of instant food. Normally, he'd have avoided that sort of food like a plague, but he hadn't had time to cook recently. Several textbooks lay open at his feet, sticky notes plastered to their pages. Sketches, equations and graphs filled the loose paper around him, the result of five years' hard work. _I need more data_, he thought. _Estimations derived from shitty video camera footage and hearsay aren't precise enough. _He looked at one piece of paper he hadn't written on yet, a letter that had just come in the post. He laughed as he read it. _So, Father, you want me to come running home after all these years. Very well. I know exactly what you want from me, and I'll be happy to be your guinea pig... so long as you let me at what I want. And then, when I am finished, you WILL be proud of me._

* * *

END OF PROLOGUE

Note: Let me know what you think of the formatting. Some of the earlier chapters don't seem to flow right when I read them; they'll probably get an edit at some point.


	6. Chapter 6

"_There is a state of emergency in effect throughout the Tokyo-3 area. For this reason, your call cannot be connected at this time. We are very sorry and recommend you proceed to a shelter immediately."_

"So that's why no-one's around", said Shinji. "I wonder if that's why she's late, too..." He clutched a pair of letters and a photograph in his right hand, his other holding a rather heavy bag containing some very important equipment.

A normal boy would be slightly worried in this sort of situation. Since Second Impact, however, there were very few "normal" people left. Shinji wasn't particularly worried about the state of emergency, just so long as he didn't have to talk to people.

He looked around the deserted street, scanning for signs leading to a shelter. It seemed, however, that the designers of this city had figured that people would somehow know where the shelters were by telepathy, as such signs were nowhere to be found. He did, however, see a girl about his age, with blue hair and red eyes, standing across the street from him.

His natural concern for other people momentarily overriding his shyness, he opened his mouth to call out to her. The sound of gunfire distracted him before he could say anything, as he turned to see just what exactly was going on.

A pair of attack VTOLs backed away from a side street, rocket pods and cannons blazing. Shinji was not exactly a student of military tactics, but he was reasonably sure that they didn't normally do that, unless...

A smile spread across his face. It seemed he'd be getting the data he needed a lot earlier than he thought. He blinked, remembering the girl from earlier, and looked around for her.

She had disappeared. Odd.

He put the girl from his mind (that was rather difficult – he was a teenager, after all) and looked back at the street the VTOLs were still firing down. A lance of energy speared one through the cockpit, cooking off its ammo racks. A ball of fire engulfed the craft, and the other moved to evade.

Something strode around the corner, chasing the remaining VTOL.

It wasn't, as Shinji was expecting, an Evangelion. It was vaguely Evangelion-shaped, but was unmistakably alien. Bony ridges protruded from its shoulders and chest, an avian-like skull on its head. Its arms ended in claws, one of which was raised to the other VTOL as he watched. Another energy lance speared out, clipping one of its engines and spinning it into a building. The creature ignored the wreckage, and took a step down the street towards him, its gigantic foot stopping barely in front of him.

He heard the sound of a car pulling up next to him, and a woman shouted "Get in!"

An instinct drilled into every post-Second Impact child forced him to comply. He climbed into the car, and the woman hit the accelerator.

* * *

The escape from the creature had passed in silence, the woman – Misato, the one from the photograph – too busy driving to talk. After escaping from the city – the plan was to circle around and come back in through an area that wasn't monster-infested – she'd pulled the car up on a ridgeline and fished out a pair of binoculars from the car's glovebox. Shinji took note of the rather high-caliber pistol that had been beneath the binoculars, and resolved not to annoy his companion.

While she was watching the monster – an Angel, apparently, although Shinji really couldn't see the resemblance – Shinji took a jury-rigged probe from his bag. It took several moments to get it to work, but when it did...

_Sound waves probably won't work_, he thought, lost in his work, _it seems to be able to resize its AT Field at will – I won't be able to get a good resonance working. A laser, then? Same problem, but it should be more responsive... It could work, but it won't be pretty. _He put the probe away, and pulled out a meter. _The Ultrasound probe had no effect, although considering the distance I'm not surprised. The laser may have had an effect, but that was probably one of those damned VTOLs firing at it. I wish they'd stop for a moment so I could check..._

As if on cue, the squadron of VTOLs clustered around the Angel pulled away.

"What are they... N-TWO MINE!" screamed Misato, throwing herself over Shinji. A pressure wave washed over them a second later. Shinji couldn't breathe, pushed against Misato's chest (the teenager part of him began to celebrate, but the rest of him shouted it down), and he was pretty sure his meter was broken and he didn't know where his bag was and they just used a UN-controlled strategic weapon on the Angel and he was pressed up against a woman's chest and -

Misato got up, letting Shinji breathe again. He began hyperventilating, the all-too-familiar panic rising. He reached into his pocket, dropping the wrecked probe, and took out a notebook. Forcing himself to ignore the rest of the world, he wrote his measurements in the notebook, along with a few preliminary calculations. After a while, he realised he was muttering. "It doesn't exist, it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist...". The world beyond the notebook faded back into view as he regained control.

Misato was staring at him, as people normally did after his panic attacks, but unlike the others she just shrugged, and turned to the wreck of her car. Shinji jumped as she shouted, "No no no no no! I only had thirty payments left on this one! My insurance doesn't cover N-Two mines or Angels!"

For the first time since arriving in Tokyo-3, Shinji laughed.

* * *

It took them a while to get the car back on its wheels, and even longer to find some batteries that hadn't been damaged in the blast, but they eventually managed to get back on the road.

"So," said Misato, breaking the silence, "You're Shinji Ikari?"

"Yes, ma'am," replied Shinji. "You must be Captain Katsuragi?"

"That's me. Don't call me "Ma'am", it makes me sound old."

"Sorry, miss."

"Just call me Misato. I'm only..." here Misato's face took on the look of someone long accustomed to lying, "twenty-six."

"Yes, miss," said Shinji. Misato sighed, and let an evil grin spread across her face.

"I'll warn you now, Shinji Ikari; don't mess with me. That "quiet and obedient" routine won't work on me. Someone far better at it than you has tried it and failed." That had been a very interesting day, she recalled.

"Sorry, miss." A change of tactics seemed to be in order.

"What's on your mind, Shinji?" she asked. The boy looked at her for the first time since they'd met.

"I'm worried about meeting my father," he said. "It's been... three, four years since I last saw him, and we've never been close. Now, he calls me here? What does he want from me?"

Misato didn't actually have an answer to that question. The Commander never told anyone anything unless he absolutely had to. She'd have to misdirect him a little. "You sound a lot like me when I was your age," she said. "I used to think my dad didn't care for me, too." That drew something approaching a smile. "Besides, you two have a bit in common. I saw that sciencey stuff you were doing earlier, and your dad's supposed to be really into science too." That one had the opposite effect.

"I know he is," Shinji said, quietly. He sighed, and continued. "Please don't watch me when I'm working." Silence pervaded for a few minutes after that. Strangely enough, it was Shinji who broke it this time. "Are you sure this isn't stealing?" he said, pointing to the row of batteries on the car's back seat.

"I'm a NERV officer and it was an emergency. It's totally legitimate," Misato replied, rather nervously. A large tunnel loomed ahead, giving her an escape. "We're here," she said, driving the car onto one of the massive elevators. It started automatically, a reminder that the MAGI supercomputers were watching her. She sat back, and waited.

They dropped out of the tunnel into a massive underground cave. The word "cave" didn't really do it justice; it was more like someone had taken a large area of countryside and built a gigantic roof over it, placing a black pyramid with an inverse-pyramid reflecting pool right in the centre. Shinji's jaw dropped in amazement.

"A real Geofront!" he said in amazement. "I've only heard about the concept, I never thought someone would actually build one! It's even got the solar collector and mirrors!"

"This," Misato said, "Is NERV. We're humanity's last, best hope. This is what your father has built."

* * *

It took them another hour to find wherever it was they were supposed to be. Shinji had never been to NERV before – obviously – and Misato kept getting lost. They had, after some time, joined up with some scientist woman, but before Shinji could question her she'd struck up a conversation with Misato. "You're late," said the newcomer as their elevator travelled even further into the bowels of the earth.

"They keep changing the layout around!" replied Misato. Again, Shinji thought she was lying.

"You got lost at Junction Thirty Seven dash C, again, didn't you? They haven't changed that place since it was built back in oh-five..." The scientist (or at least, Shinji assumed she was a scientist – she was wearing a lab coat, after all) turned to look at Shinji. "So this is the Third Child, huh?" she said.

"Yup, Risti," cut in Misato before Shinji could reply. "It seems he's a budding scientist; you two should swap notes or whatever it is scientists do."

"Is that so," said the woman – Ritsuko, probably – giving him that look that all people did when he talked about his work. "Maybe when this is over." _Not likely_, Shinji thought. _You're just like all the others; you won't believe me until I prove it and then you'll be scared of me. _Outwardly, he just smiled nervously.

The elevator stopped, the doors opening onto a dark room. Shinji closed his eyes, waiting for the tell-tale click of the lights coming on or for an explanation.

There was a THUNK. Shinji opened his eyes. 

"So this is why you called me back, Father?" he asked.

"That would be correct," said a voice from a platform above the gigantic head. "It's been a while, Shinji." The platform's lights came on, revealing the form of his Father staring down at him. He pushed aside the rest of the world, and stared back.

"Three, four years. I take it you want me to pilot this Evangelion – Unit One? and kill that "Angel" who's making a mess up there," Shinji replied. "And, for whatever reason, you can't use Unit Zero. I heard there was an accident a week ago; I hope the pilot's okay." _Stay on the offensive_, he thought, _and we might just get through this without another panic attack._

"She is alive," said his Father. "But she is too injured to pilot. Unless you're thinking of refusing?" _And there's his attack. He knows I won't let him use someone hurt that badly._

"No fear there, Father," he said. A sigh of relief came from his left – Misato? "There will, however, be a price."

"Go on."

"I want access to all the data you have on the AT Field and the Evangelions, and I want permission to perform experiments on the Evangelions you have at your disposal. I'll also need a place to stay, especially if I'm going to be a long-term pilot, and a generous salary. Not to mention, an apology." Internally, Shinji was on the verge of collapse. He'd never done anything like this before – the longest talk he'd had with another human had been a rather... unfortunate... meeting with one of his schoolteachers. To bargain with a man some people said was the most powerful man in Japan...

"No," said his Father. _What?_ "Fuyutsuki. Wake up Rei." _This is insane! He's not even negotiating! Does he really think he can just brush me off like that?_

"Shinji," came the voice from his left, breaking through his thoughts. "Why are you growling?"

The doors at the side of the hangar opened, and a stretcher was wheeled in. Shinji stared at the girl – the exact same girl from earlier, who'd disappeared – and felt his fist clench as she pushed herself up, trembling in pain.

He was about to speak out when an explosion rocked the facility. Shinji was running before his brain even caught up with the explosion, catching the girl – she had to be "Rei" – in his arms and carrying her away from the rubble falling from the roof. He stared into her eye – the other concealed behind a medical patch – as he forced himself to think. _Only one thing to do, _came the conclusion.

"Misato," he said, his voice cold. "Get her to some proper doctors. Take my bag with you. Make sure she lives, or you won't." He handed Rei over to the Captain before she could object, and turned to the scientist woman. "Get this thing ready for launch. I'm going out there whether he" - Shinji pointed to his Father - "likes it or not. I'll consider the negotiations postponed for now." Without another word, he climbed up to the Evangelion's cockpit and jumped in.

* * *

Several minutes later, Shinji was regretting his actions. _They are going to kill me when I get out of this thing_, he thought. Well, his thoughts were actually closer to _Shit shit shit shit shit SHIT shit shit!_ than anything coherent, but various concepts passed through his mind. So did a picture of Misato's high-caliber pistol, and the damage such a weapon could do without killing someone. At least, not immediately.

Voices filtered in from outside. "LCL lines check clear. Filling plug now." The strange orange fluid began to fill the cockpit – he'd seen it before, and people on the internet had come up with many theories as to what it was for and what the name meant. They all agreed that it was breathable, however, so Shinji forced himself to relax – he'd been doing that a lot recently – and breathed it in when it reached his mouth. For once, the internet was right about something, although they'd left out the part where it tasted exactly like human blood.

"Pilot synchronisation holding at... fifty percent!" came another voice, accompanied by a weird light show on the walls of the cockpit.

"We might actually pull this off," said the scientist – her name was Ritsuko Akagi, he'd learned – and Shinji felt slightly wronged. "LCL charging," she continued, and the walls changed to a view of the hanger bay. _So that's how they do it,_ he realised. _The LCL must polarise with a small electric current running through it, and there must be a link to the external cameras..._

He was snapped back to reality by Doctor Akagi's voice. "All systems show nominal. We're ready for launch on your order, Commander."

"Launch Unit One," said his Father. _Wait, what do they mean by – _a sudden acceleration pushed him down into his seat, and within seconds he was back on the surface.

The Angel stood facing him.

_Oh shit._


	7. Chapter 7

"All things considered, that went quite well," said Fuyutsuki.

"The Angel is dead. That is all that matters," replied Gendo. There were no titles in this office, the one place on the entire planet where he could speak freely. Even then... "No doubt the Council will be expecting a report." 

"The old men expect a report when you take a shit. I'd have thought you'd have learned to live with it by now." 

"It matters not. All is proceeding in accordance with the Scenario."

"You'd say that even if you were on fire, though."

"That is because it would be true. Nothing happens here outside of my control." Gendo picked up a file. Fuyutsuki was aware most were actually full of blank sheets of paper, kept around to intimidate people unfortunate enough to be called into a meeting with the Commander. "We need to keep the UN out of this. We can't afford another Jerusalem," Gendo said after a while. "The Council messed up there and we're still cleaning up after them."

"There was one surprise from that, though. Who'd have thought the British pilot was Rei's brother?" Fuyutsuki said. The response from Gendo when that had happened had been worthy of a recording, Illuminati be damned.

"Three years ago, even I wouldn't have guessed it. They did a remarkably good job keeping him out of the public spotlight."

"The kid was in combat most of the time up until twenty-ten, and when someone did get a shot of him outside Unit Seven he was in that damned armour. I'm beginning to suspect he's never taken it off."

"Regardless, he won't be a problem. The British aren't going to risk their only Evangelion, not with everything they have to deal with," said Gendo.

"They've done stupider things in the past. I distinctly recall you saying something similar back in late oh-nine..." Gendo snorted derisively at Fuyutsuki's comment. "Regardless, they can't do anything right now." There was a break in the conversation, before Fuyutsuki spoke again. "Have you visited Rei yet?"

"I'll go see her today."

"And Shinji?"

"We both know the answer to that question," was the curt reply.

* * *

"_Right arm reading as broken! Armour plating on left shoulder down to six percent integrity!"_

"_What's he doing out there?"_

"_WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP FOR FIVE SECONDS AND LET ME KILL THIS BASTARD?"_

* * *

Shinji woke up.

He took account of his surroundings, as he'd been teaching himself to do since that fateful day the news had shown the live images from St. Louis. _Hospital room. No other people. I appear to be uninjured. My stuff isn't here. Unfamiliar ceiling. I am currently clothed in a hospital gown. Single window – large enough to get out of. Single door – check if locked. This must be a short-term recovery ward – no facilities in the room to accommodate long-term patients. _He lay back, instincts satisfied, and began reviewing his observations. The panic began to overwhelm him as he realised his bag wasn't in the room, but forced himself to re-run several mental equations to calm himself down. The method worked... about ninety percent of the time.

A nurse walked into the room, and Shinji sat up again. "You're awake!" he said.

"Where are my things? What happened... out there?" Shinji asked, taking on the stutter he nearly always did when talking to another person.

"Well," the nurse said, "It seems you won. They don't tell us anything, but I get the impression we wouldn't be here if you hadn't. As for your effects... I heard some NERV officer wanted to talk to you about that." _Great_, Shinji thought, _Misato got my equipment broken. I really hope she didn't get that girl killed; I'm not sure I could follow through on my end of that..._ Another panic attack threatened as he remembered what he'd said in the hanger bay. _What the hell was I thinking!? Why did I threaten her like that?_

"Um... are you alright, Mister Ikari?" asked the nurse.

"What? Oh, I'm fine," Shinji waved him off, "just... post-battle stress. Where's this officer?"

* * *

"Hey Shinji!" called Misato. Shinji's legs felt like lead as he walked over to her.

"Hi," he said, timidly. "The nurse said you wanted to speak to me?"

"Oh yeah! I got your stuff in the car. None of it seemed broken, but you're probably going to want to check it anyway," she said. "Oh, and Rei survived. It looks like you're not going to have to kill me," she continued, laughing.

_Why is she laughing?_ Shinji thought. "That's... good," he said. He steeled himself, and continued, "Look... back there, I'm sorry I threatened to kill you."

Misato laughed again. "Don't worry about it," she said, "You went pretty cold back there. Better than snapping, I guess. You freaked me out, though – only other person I've seen get like that is the Commander. I guess there's more similarity in you two than I thought."

_She thinks I'm like HIM?_ Shinji thought, horrified. Outwardly, he smiled. "I guess so," he said.

There were a few seconds of silence, before Misato spoke. "Look, we need to see about your accommodation," she said, "I've finished for the day, so I'll help you move."

"Thanks," said Shinji, smiling for real this time.

* * *

"What? Alone?! You can't have a kid like him living on his own!" Misato shouted at the NERV officer – he seemed faceless, generic, like a lot of the people around here. _Maybe they have vats churning them out_, Shinji thought. He wasn't paying attention to the conversation – he was fine with living alone, and it wasn't like - "Look, you know what, I'll take him in. I've got a few spare rooms. No, don't worry about the paperwork, I'll speak to the Commander or Doctor Akagi about it." The flunky walked off, apparently satisfied with this.

It took Shinji several seconds to process the new development, the very concept forcing him into a new set of equations to calm himself down. "Umm," he said, finally, "Miss Misato... what?"

"For the last time, it's just Misato. And like I said, I'm not going to just let you live on your own. Besides, the place they had you in was tiny, you'd never have enough room for all your equipment." That seemed to be all the discussion that decision was allocated, because Misato walked off.

Shinji sighed, and followed her. _Maybe this won't be so bad_, he thought.

* * *

He nearly had a heart attack when he saw the mess in the living room of the apartment. They'd picked up some food on the way; it was all instant but he was hoping that wasn't the warning sign it seemed like. _Food with the nutritional value of cardboard, an apartment that looks like it's a war zone and probably harbours several new strains of disease, more beer than is consumed by North America in three years, and yes that's a penguin._

"What are you waiting for," called Misato, "Come in!"

Shinji took a nervous step into the apartment. "I'm home," he said.

"Welcome home," replied Misato.

* * *

_The Angel stood opposite Shinji – or Unit 01? It was hard to tell the difference. It was stationary – was it confused? Shinji checked his surroundings. No weapons, no VTOLs or tanks around, very little cover unless he was willing to sacrifice a building or two..._

_He ducked behind an office building, hoping it had been evacuated. Or at least, he tried to. His mind sent the signal for his legs to move, but they felt weird, unresponsive. He fell forwards, onto his face. He tried to stand up, but again the response was slow._

_The Angel walked over to him – walked, as if it wasn't even worried he was a threat – and picked him up by the head. It tightened its grip, and pain flowed in like his own head was being crushed. That seemed unfair – he couldn't control this damned thing but he could feel its pain?_

_The anger he'd felt back in the hanger flooded back, and he punched the Angel with his right arm. For the first time, the Evangelion responded to his command, and the Angel staggered back a little, dropping him. Perfect. He settled into a fighting stance – something mirrored unconsciously from a TV show or movie or something – and lashed out again._

_This time, the Angel caught his arm, and pulled, loosing some sort of energy beam that scraped his left shoulder at the same time. Voices had been on the edge of his hearing since he'd launched, but now they flooded into focus._

"_Right arm reading as broken! Armour plating on left shoulder down to six percent integrity!" said one._

"_What's he doing out there?" said another._

"_WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP FOR FIVE SECONDS AND LET ME KILL THIS BASTARD?" he shouted, pulling back with his right arm and punching with the left. Surprisingly, the radio fell silent, and the newly-awakened part of Shinji got on with its job. He pulled again with his right arm, the pain just a small sensation on the edge of his mind, and slammed the Angel into a building. That always seemed to work. Except... this time, it didn't._

_The Angel let go of his arm, and reached out again. Shinji tried to kick at it, but an AT Field formed in front of his leg. He fell forwards, into the Angel's grip. A lance of pain stabbed through his head, and he realised the Angel was stabbing him with its energy lance thing and it hurt and he was going to pass out and IT NEEDED TO DIE NOW..._

* * *

Shinji walked into the classroom he'd been assigned to. Misato had told him, the day after he'd moved in, that he'd be starting at the local school as soon as possible. He'd told her he was well ahead of any curriculum offered by a high school, especially in the field of science, but it was apparently more to do with socialisation than grades. He'd cursed the invisible psychiatrist who'd written that recommendation – silently, of course – but it was final. They had delayed his start to synchronise with the start of a new term, however – a delay of about a week – and Rei was supposed to be going back on that day too. Not that he'd spoken to the girl yet; he had no idea how one was actually supposed to go about doing so.

"Hello!" said a brown-haired, pigtailed girl who'd walked up to him. "You must be the new transfer student!"

"Yes," he said. Then he remembered he was supposed to be socialising. "My name's Shinji Ikari, it's nice to meet you."

"I'm Hikari Horaki, Class Representative. I have to say it's kind of weird you're moving in just as everyone else seems to be moving out..." Even he could tell that she was fishing for information. _Even a high school student could connect the dots. New Evangelion shows up, they have teenage pilots, and oh look here's a new teenage student._

"I'm the pilot of Unit One," he said. Better to get it over with now than have it come out at some inopportune moment. _Although if she starts bugging me for schoolwork in the middle of an Evangelion deployment, I will... do something._ He'd censored his mind before he could mentally threaten another person.

"Oh! That's... okay. Are you sure?" asked Hikari. _I knew high school kids were stupid, but seriously?_ Shinji thought.

"I took an energy spike through its skull about a week ago. I'm pretty sure," he said, a little harshly by his standards.

"I meant... it's just kind of a shock," said Hikari. "Like learning one of your classmates is a famous writer or scientist or something." There was a pause as the two collected their thoughts. "Look, just take a seat. I'll make sure the teacher knows."

"Thank you," Shinji said. He scanned the classroom for... ah, there she was. _Still in bandages? Is she actually okay to be here? _The last vestiges of the anger from a week ago welled up, but he suppressed them as he walked over to the empty seats around her. _In front, behind, or beside?_ he debated. He decided on the seat next to her, and sat down.

"Shinji Ikari," she said, turning to stare at him. Her voice was very soft, he noticed. "You threatened a superior officer's life if she did not ensure my survival. Why?"

The question caused another near panic attack, but if he was good at one thing it was keeping those down. He thought for a few moments, trying to think of a reason that didn't sound trite. "I... I guess I was angry, and worried. She was the only person I could trust to do the job, and I needed to motivate her." That was, after all, the truth. He'd made the decision, his mind thinking with perfect clarity for the first time in a social situation. That answer didn't seem to satisfy the girl, however.

"Why were you angry and worried?" she asked. Before he could think of an answer, the bell rang his salvation and the teacher walked in.

* * *

A student arrived as the formalities were dealt with, and Shinji couldn't help overhearing that the student – a kid called Toji – wasn't exactly happy. That was going to make the next part of the day a little awkward.

The teacher called Shinji up to the front to introduce himself, and he actually managed to reach the board without collapsing in panic like he had the first time he'd done something like this. He wrote his name on the board, handwriting messed up by his unfamiliarity with the digital marker thingy the school was using. As he finished, he took a deep breath and turned back to the class.

"Hello," he began, cursing himself for being unable to think of anything better to say, "I'm Shinji Ikari. I'll be studying here for the foreseeable future, and..." he gulped, and continued, "I'm the pilot of Evangelion Unit One."

The classroom erupted into chaos.

* * *

A fist swung into his eye as he left the school building. He'd actually expected this, but made no motion to prevent it. This was, after all, something he deserved for once. He fell back onto the concrete, mentally remarking on how familiar this sensation was becoming.

"That's for my sister, you bastard," came the voice of the fist's owner. Toji.

Another voice came from above, accompanied by the face of Toji's friend. "Look, I'm really sorry about this," he said, "but you kind of got his sister really hurt. Even if you weren't the pilot he'd probably have punched you..."

"It doesn't matter," said Shinji. "I... I'm sorry about what happened." That seemed to make Toji angrier, as Shinji was lifted off his feet and thrown onto the ground. Shinji braced himself for another blow, but it never came.

"Pilot Ikari," came Rei's voice from the same doorway he'd been ambushed at. Shinji forced himself to his feet – if Toji started to take any of his anger out on Rei...

The other two boys were walking off, pretending nothing had happened. "What is it, Ayanami?" he asked, brushing himself down. The blows had hurt, but nothing compared to the feeling of a white-hot lance of energy spearing through his eye.

"You did not answer my question," said the girl. Shinji laughed. _Of course that's why she decided to follow me_, he thought. Rei looked at him curiously, and asked "Why are you laughing?"

That was when the sirens started howling.


	8. Chapter 8 (Part 1 of 2)

"_Unit One ready for launch. Is the order given, Commander?"_

"_Order is given. Launch Unit One."_

Shinji roused at that, snapping back to the mission at hand. The G-forces which were already becoming familiar pushed him down into his seat, and Misato's voice came over the radio. _"Alright Shinji, here's how we're going to do it. The Angel's going to be one street to your right as you come in, so take the assault cannon, neutralise its AT Field and annihilate it."_

"Got it," he said. The lift snapped to a halt, and the massive door opened. The assault cannon – a rotary, battleship-caliber weapon – was in a slot by his legs. He pulled it out, and turned to face the Angel.

This one was different from the last one; rather than a humanoid shape it seemed more like some sort of cuttlefish or squid. Somehow, it was floating – _Note to self: get recordings of this fight_, Shinji thought – and it paused as it saw him. Just as the last one had. Shinji took the advantage, extended his AT Field as far as he could and emptied the assault cannon's hopper into its face.

"_What are you doing, Shinji? Short, controlled bursts! You'll obscure the target in the smoke!" _came Misato's voice. _It's not like that matters,_ Shinji thought, _it's probably dead alread- _a pair of whip... tentacle... things flew out from the dust cloud and cut the assault cannon in half before he could finish the thought. _Ah crap._

"_-ending you up a rifle. Building two-thirteen. Take it!"_ That wouldn't be much help. Building 213 was on the other side of the Angel, but it was also the only one in range of his power cable. _Dammit_, he thought. The Angel's whips slashed out again, and Shinji barely dodged... but lost the power cable at the same time. _If I can get behind it, maybe – _The Angel attacked again. This time, the whips snared around his arm, and it threw him out of the city into the mountains. _This is really not going – oh what the FUCK!_ The Evangelion's computer had noted two human life signs just beside one of his hands. He zoomed in one of the cameras, and cursed. _It would be those two, wouldn't it..._

* * *

**A few minutes previously:**

Kensuke Aida was getting bored. This wasn't his natural state of being; normally he could find interest in nearly everything. But being cooped up in a small bunker and being told to stay put while he could be filming the epic battle going on above... "Hey, Toji", he said, getting the attention of his friend.

"Yeah, Ken?" Toji said, drawing his gaze from the Class Representative chatting with her friends on the other side of the bunker. "What is it?"

"Come with me to the bathroom," said Kensuke. "I gotta ask you something."

Toji considered it. "Yeah, sure, why the heck not," he said, then called out to Hikari. "Hey, Class Rep! We gotta go pee!" The brunette did not look as amused by this as he hoped, and glared at him.

"Yeah, whatever!" she called back.

"Damn it, Ken, this better be worth it," Toji snapped.

* * *

"So I think with your help I could get the lock on the bunker open!" finished Kensuke, glasses flashing.

"Are you kidding me? You want to go out there?!" replied Toji.

"Look, this is the chance of a lifetime! I could sell this footage for thousands! Besides, it's probably dead already," Kensuke said. Toji sighed, then nodded. "That's the spirit!" said Kensuke.

* * *

"Wow, he really doesn't have any idea what he's doing!" shouted Kensuke as the two watched the fight, a video camera pressed to the nerd's eye. "He's letting it keep its distance, where it has the advantage, but isn't pulling back far enough to get out of its range! Did they even train him before sticking him in that thing?"

"We should probably get back inside," said Toji. Truth be told, he was actually feeling pretty bad about hitting the kid earlier. _If they didn't even train him before sending him in, no wonder Mari got hurt..._

That was when the Evangelion, limbs flailing, came flying through the air towards them. There was a shudder as it landed, but when he opened his eyes Toji found he was still alive. The massive bulk of the gigantic war machine shielded from the sun, and he could almost hear Ken's jaw hit the ground as he realised how close he was to one of the most powerful weapons in humanity's arsenal. There was a hiss, and a panel on the Evangelion's back slid out, followed by a white tube. A ladder came down from it, and the tube opened with an audible pop.

"Get in!" called a voice down from the tube, so Toji and Kensuke rushed up the ladder. After all, it was better to be inside the giant war machine rather than crushed by it.

* * *

"What the hell is this stuff?" said the other student from earlier – the one with the glasses. Shinji ignored him. "Oh... crap, my camera!" _Shut up please_, he thought, closing the entry plug up and re-synchronising. His mind went cold again, and he started assessing the situation. _Two minutes' battery power left. I think I have a knife, but I can't get close, unless..._

"_Shinji!"_ called Misato over the radio. _"Fall back to position three! Just get out of there!"_ That wouldn't work. He couldn't get to the fallback point without taking more damage along the way, and he wasn't sure how much damage the Evangelion could take before it went berserker. _Let's not have that happen again_, he decided, and charged. He was vaguely aware of the students talking next to him, telling him to follow orders, so he shouted, "SHUT. UP!" and kept going. The Angel thrust its whip things at him again, spearing him through the chest, but he kept going. _Thirty seconds left_.

He drew his knife, passing back into the city. _Twenty seconds._

He reached the Angel, and thrust the knife into its core. He realised he was screaming. _Ten seconds._ The core cracked, but the Angel was still alive. _Five._ Still alive. _Four. Three. Two-_ the Angel went still, freezing in place. The whips fell out of Shinji's chest, and he slumped forwards.

It took him a few minutes to realise he was crying.

* * *

Michael's eyes bolted open as a scream came from outside his door. Old instincts made him reach for his pistol before memory asserted itself. _Not again_, he thought. He stood up from his bed, and headed for the door. He paused for a second, then bolted his left arm back on just in case his instincts were right. The industrial, piston-like replacement's weight still felt off after three years, but he'd at least learned to use it properly now.

He walked out the door to the sound of a television turning on, and switching to an all-night news channel. He sighed, partially relief and partially worry. This had been happening far more often ever since about a week ago, after she'd heard about Tokyo-3. He proceeded down the hall, unloading his pistol, and stepped into their apartment's living room. The lights outside illuminated the unnamed Pacific island they were on, and highlighted Rose's face as he walked in. She was sitting on the couch, running through the breathing exercise he'd taught her after the first time this had happened five years ago. He let her finish before speaking. "Again?" he said, simply.

"Yeah," she said. "Same as always." He walked over to the couch, sat down beside her and just held her for a few minutes with his real arm. A mix of emotions flooded through him, as it had been for a while now. Fear. Affection. Desire. Shame. He pushed them out, and just tried to make her feel safe. It was, after all, his fault she suffered from these nightmares.

"There's something I'd like to know," she asked after a while, sitting back up as she spoke. "Why is it you never get these?"

"I don't dream," he said. "Not since Wales. I suppose I'm lucky in that respect, despite everything else."

"But you have to remember it sometimes, surely?" she pressed on.

"Yeah, I do." he paused for a moment. Her words had brought up the memories she was talking about. "But... how do I put this? I've been dealing with that sort of thing for as long as I can remember. And ever since Jerusalem, not much has been able to scare me." Rose's face fell as he brought up their last battle.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have -" she began, but he cut her off.

"Don't worry about it. Never worry about it," he said, pulling her back into an embrace. This time, it was for as much his benefit as it was hers; he could still vividly remember the feeling of having his arm – both his and the Evangelion's – slowly infected by the Angel. Not to mention what he'd done when the infection kept coming after the Angel died...

He was glad he'd managed to spare her from that. It made him feel a little better about St. Louis. It was still a mystery to him why she'd forgiven him for that.

Beside him, he heard Rose's breathing fall into a slow, regular pattern. He rested his head on top of hers, allowing himself to revel in the contact, and closed his eyes. The television still blared, unheeded, in front of them as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"_Today's headlines at three from the BBC: Another Angel attacked Tokyo Three, but was promptly defeated by NERV's Unit One two days ago. Rumours about as to the identity of the pilot, with some sources claiming he identified himself openly in a classroom. More on this story as it arises."_

"_In our other top story, the final satellite in the Orbital Defence Network is scheduled to launch tomorrow from a base in the Pacific. Confidential sources say that the launch ceremony, which is to be attended by both the British Queen and the French President, as well as many other world leaders, will be guarded by the Royal Navy's Unit Seven. Full coverage of the ceremony will be provided live by the BBC."_

"_In other news, the long-running TV series "Firefly" has been renewed for yet another season. Fans of the series claim that it has, in fact, been running for too long..."_

* * *

Shinji woke up in the cell that had been his home for the past night. They'd been thoughtful enough to give him a TV, but he'd kept it off. Aside from the occasional clips of Evangelion deployments on the news, he'd never been interested much in television. He stretched out his arms, working out the kinks that came with sleeping against a wall, and sighed. _It wouldn't even be so bad if they'd given me some of my equipment_, he thought. Then again, all of his stuff was at Misato's apartment.

He grimaced as he recalled what had happened after the battle two days ago.

* * *

"What the hell, Shinji?" Misato had shouted just after some security goons had led Toji and Kensuke away. "In battle, you follow my orders! It's that simple!"

Shinji knew he should point out that he couldn't have followed her orders, but just like always he couldn't say it. "I'm sorry," he said lamely. "I'm not sure what it really matters, though," he muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, Misato heard him.

"What was that?" she said, her voice low and level.

"It's just... I killed the Angel," he said, desperately searching for a way out, "What does it matter how I did it? Besides, what do you care? I'll keep killing the Angels, and that's all that-" Misato slapped him, and walked out before he could react. _That's it_, he thought, _time to get some fresh air._

* * *

Shinji had reached the end of the road.

Literally, not metaphorically.

He'd been walking the entire night, trying to get a good vantage point on the Angel's corpse. A probe was held weakly in his hand; he hadn't had the time or money to get food. And now, before him lay the wreckage of the one major road out of the city. _I must have taken it out coming down that hill_, he realised; the road was between the hill and where he'd killed the Angel. Someone – probably NERV – had moved its body into a structure since then, as he couldn't see it. He tried the probe anyway, looking for any sort of after-image of the battle. There was some, a few weird readings that he'd found only came up after two active AT Fields collided, but nothing he could work with. Not for the first time that night, he wished he had access to his equipment, or maybe even NERV's stuff. Misato had told him to ask Doctor Akagi for it, but he hadn't yet worked up the courage to speak to her.

He had long noticed NERV's security goons following him. They hadn't stopped him, so he'd ignored them. Now, however, he'd done everything he'd wanted to. "Alright," he said, apparently to thin air, "I'm ready to go back." A set of floodlights lit up the road, and Shinji was suddenly surrounded by the black-suited men.

* * *

"_-and now we go live to our reporter on the scene in the A-F Union's Pacific launch base. Jake, how're things looking down there?"_

"_Well, May, I'd have to say it feels pretty positive here. We're a few minutes away from the Inauguration Ceremony, and the entire viewing platform seems packed. I've never seen so many government officials in one place! Just behind me is the rocket that will carry the last of the Longbow weapon platforms into orbit, to join the Camelot command station and the other thirty-five satellites that have been launched in the past year. And just behind that is Unit Seven; it's been a while since I've seen her. There were reports after Jerusalem three years ago that the pilot had been put out of action, but they seem to have recovered. Wait – just now, the Queen's taking the stage for the speech."_

* * *

Michael closed the window showing the live news feed with a wave of his hand. They'd been deployed early in the morning, and he hadn't had much to occupy himself with. Behind him, Rose ran yet another scan of the perimeter. "Anything?" he asked.

"Nothing. Quieter than Rio," Rose replied. Strictly speaking, they both knew that wasn't true; there was a Navy task force near the island, not to mention several Air Force Typhoons on patrol. More to the point, Rio was several metres underwater. Michael sighed, and switched on the feed to the speech.

* * *

"_-one must be grateful to the brave men and women who sacrificed so much, including their lives, to fight the American menace. Five years ago today, a historic treaty was signed which returned peace to this ravaged world after ten years of devastating conflict. Today, we bear witness to the force which shall sustain that peace. For the first time in history, an impartial, multinational organisation will have a striking force independent of any nationality. History teaches us that such a thing is required for world peace. We have learned the lessons of Hitler and President Morris, and will not make that mistake again. It is time to put aside petty national differences in order to ensure our children do not have to go through the same things we have. America once claimed to be a "beacon on a hill". We do not claim the same thing. Our past is not spotless. That is why we have done this; not as a way of securing some military advantage but as an act of atonement. We, who have sacrificed so much in the name of peace, sacrifice a portion of our wealth and prosperity to allow peace to continue. One hopes the rest of the world will follow our example."_

* * *

"Wow, she really went at it," said Rose as the applause died away.

"What are you talking about?" asked Michael.

"'One hopes the rest of the world will follow our example'? She's talking to the Russians and Chinese. Not to mention NERV, and the American States." Seeing Michael still didn't understand, she continued. "She's trying to guilt-trip them. Making the UN into an actual world government has been her goal since the wars began, and everyone else has been dragging their feet on it. Rather understandably, too; the UN's track record isn't exactly spotless either."

"So that's why we're just handing the entire network over to them," Michael said. "I thought it was part of the Vatican treaty or something."

"It is," Rose replied. "But we put it there. An orbital weapon capable of destroying an Evangelion with a direct hit? Not to mention Camelot Station? No-one would have let us put it up there if they weren't sure they could stop us from using it."

"Not that they can," said Michael. "We built them. I'd bet real money – if I had any – that we've got a way to override them. You never sell a weapon you can't defeat."

"And as usual, your cynicism shines like a diamond," Rose said, and both of them laughed. It was an old argument they had. "I've taken a look over the control system for the satellites; it seems pretty foolproof to me."

"I'm sure it does," Michael said, "And I'm also pretty sure that the signal telling the satellite it can fire, while not easily duplicated, can also be sent from some bunker back home. Sure, the UN'd know as soon as it was sent, but what are they going to do about it?"

"The signal has to be authenticated by Camelot before the system can fire, though," argued Rose.

"And who's crewing Camelot at the moment? The only military astronauts on the entire planet, who just so happen to be former British and French astronauts we gave to the UN. Oh, in a few years' time there might be a few different nationalities up there, but I have no doubt the majority will be British or French for the foreseeable future," countered Michael.

"You know," Rose said, and Michael could feel her exasperation, "just once I'd like you to take something at face value. I mean, it's starting to rub off on me now!" Michael grimaced at that; they'd had lots of problems with long-term pilot-to-pilot synchronisation. Sometimes, he could barely tell which mind was which. Rose fell silent as she felt his change in mood. _That's another problem_, he considered. _It's impossible to keep secrets from her sometimes. And vice versa._

He re-opened the television window, to the sound of the countdown. _Has it really been that long? We missed the President's speech..._

* * *

"_Ten."_

"_Nine."_

"_Eight."_

"_Seven."_

"_Six."_

"_Five."_

"_Four."_

"_Three."_

"_Two."_

"_One."_

"_LIFTOFF!"_

* * *

Shinji sat up as someone entered his cell. The light from outside blinded him for a moment, before his eyes adjusted and he saw who had chosen to visit. "Rei?" he asked in surprise, blinking. "What are you doing here?" He looked closer. She seemed to have recovered from her injuries. _Maybe she's here to tell me they don't want me to pilot anymore_, he thought. He felt... ambivalent about that.

"I wish to ask you some questions," said the girl. _Ah crap,_ Shinji realised. _I never did answer her question earlier. I really hope she's not annoyed._

"It's not like I'm doing anything else at the moment," he said, a rare piece of sarcasm which went unheeded by the blue-haired figure before him. She nodded.

"Firstly, could you please finish answering my questions from earlier?" she said.

Shinji drew in a breath, and brought up all his reserves of courage and patience. Not that he had much of the former. "Why I acted like that back when I got here? I suppose I just got really angry with Father." Rei stared at him, so he continued. "He called me here after ten years of showing how little he cared about me. Then, he asks me to get into a giant cybernetic war machine known for psychologically damaging its pilots. Fine. I can deal with that. But to brush me off when I dare ask for something in return? And to drag you out, when you couldn't even walk? To play with both our lives like he did? **That** angered me." He sighed, and kept talking. She wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a full explanation, Misato had told him before the second Angel attack. "When I get angry... everything sort of snaps into focus. All the things holding me back normally just disappear. Like Miss Misato said, I get a lot like Father. Unfortunately, all those things holding me back also stop me from doing things like threatening someone's life, or throwing them out of a window like the first time I got angry, so I've learned to recognise the signs over the years. Back then was... a special case."

Rei seemed satisfied by this. "Secondly, what is the nature of your scientific enquiry?" she said.

"I can't tell you all of it," he said, as the enthusiasm started to rise up. "Too many unknowns, and I don't have enough data to even begin to confirm or deny my theories. But... the base of it is that I noticed AT Fields interact with light." Rei raised an eyebrow quizzically. This would take some explaining. "I saw a broadcast of the St. Louis battle as it happened. Right up until the nuke hit. That set off some spark in my mind, and I gathered up every last scrap of information I could on the AT Field. I found enough to indicate that they're somehow frequency-based, although they don't use a medium known to modern science. There's some sort of information carried in the AT Field; that much is obvious from the various pilot interviews and so on – why would there be a minimum synchronisation requirement for manifesting an AT Field otherwise? More to the point, why else would it be necessary to have the pilot synchronise so much with the Evangelion? It's a proven fact that synchronisation can be limited below the threshold where the pilots begin to feel the Evangelion's pain, and it's incredibly rare for two of them to meet in combat where control fidelity actually matters. So, after a while, I got to thinking. What if we could decode that information? Perhaps more importantly, what if we could find out whatever medium the AT Field works in and replicate it mechanically? It'd be so useful! Leaving aside making the Evangelions – and thus the necessity of using child soldiers like us – obsolete, it can be used to shield against radiation, making space travel far easier, it can be used to support an object in the air or on water..." he trailed off, the burst of energy spent. He looked up at Rei. "Does that answer your question?" he asked.

"I do not believe your endeavours will be successful," she said. _That's what they all say,_ he thought, _but I __**will**__ show them._ "But... " she continued, her voice even quieter and softer than normal, "I hope they are." _That's... not what they normally say_, he thought, looking up in surprise.

Rei was already gone.

* * *

Michael pulled his helmet off as he stepped into the locker room designated for his use. They'd been on duty even after the rocket had launched, until the last VIP had left the island. They were shipping out tomorrow, to their new base on Gibraltar. The launch facility there had just been completed, and although Evangelions were supposedly vulnerable to the sheer firepower from the Longbow satellites, the government still wanted Unit 07 in a position to deploy to any new crises. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the thoughts of politics, strategy and tactics, and was about to start stripping off his armour when he noticed one of the lockers had been opened slightly. Instincts flared up again, and his mind switched back into tactical mode. _No-one should have been here at any point since I was last in here_, he observed. _There doesn't appear to be anything inside the locker, but I'll be cautious anyway._ He edged closer to the offending locker, and carefully opened the locker door the rest of the way. _Ah, shit._

Inside was a bag – clearly a bomb - rigged up to a laser sensor. The instant he stepped into the shower, it would have gone off. He slid his helmet back on, drew his pistol and stalked out of the locker room. _Priorities_, his mind began, _firstly: find Rose and make sure she's safe. Secondly: Warn people. Thirdly: see if the person who set this bomb is still here. Finally: find a shower that isn't trapped._ As he walked back into the corridor linking their locker rooms together, he noticed a group of armed soldiers moving towards the other locker room further down the corridor. _An abduction attempt?_ thought the strategic part of his mind. The tactical part brought his pistol up, the crosshairs on his helmet's HUD lining up with one of the enemy's skulls. "Stop!" he ordered. _One chance. That's all you get._

For their part, the enemy soldiers reacted quite admirably. They spun round as a group, those at the new front of the formation kneeling to allow those at the back to fire. It didn't matter. He squeezed the trigger on his pistol, moving the barrel across the enemy formation as the three rounds spat out. He noted that he'd got all three bullets into different enemies before ducking back into the shelter of the locker room. _Hopefully that bomb doesn't have a remote trigger,_ he thought belatedly. The staccato sound of Rose's carbine told him he had an opportunity, so he ran down the corridor, spitting fire from his pistol. He brought down three more as he closed the distance – he'd only had enough time for one more burst – and he brought his left arm up to bat aside the first enemy he came close enough to. Another came at him from the right with a knife, so he fired another burst into that one, grabbing the final enemy with the claw-like hand of his left arm. The enemy soldier tried to draw another weapon – knife, grenade or pistol, it didn't matter. Michael retracted his left arm, the hand moving back into the elbow, and with the force of an industrial piston shoved them into the wall. The wall cracked as the man went right through, and he dropped the pistol he'd been reaching for. Amazingly enough, the man survived.

"Looks like you caught one," said Rose. Michael felt relief as he heard her voice.

"What happened to the other one I hit?" he asked, looking at her. Her face told him all he needed to know, and he felt the usual sadness. "I see. Well, let's go get this guy to a cell or something."

* * *

Misato walked into the cell a few seconds after Rei had left. They looked at each other for a moment, before she broke the silence. "Ready to go home, Shinji?" she said.

"Yeah," he replied.


	9. Chapter 9 (Part 2 of 2)

Note: Please tell me if there's anything weird or off about the formatting for this one; my word processor was playing up a little when I wrote it.

* * *

"So what do you make of the Third Child's little theorem?" said Fuyutsuki from behind Gendo, the office as cold and dark as ever despite the presence of one of the major sunlight mirrors right behind it.

"It might amount to something useful, but it is far more likely that any... enquiries... he makes will be problematic. Make sure Ritsuko knows to deny him access to our data," replied Gendo. "And don't let him near the fabricators. It's bad enough he managed to cobble together so much equipment from scrap electronics; if he gets his hands on one of our fabricators..."

"Done and done," confirmed Fuyutsuki, "But that wasn't what I meant. It seems he has quite the scientific mind, when pushed."

Gendo snorted derisively. "He's playing mad scientist and just so happened to find a field he can actually make discoveries in. None of his ideas are particularly new."

"He doesn't know that," retorted Fuyutsuki. "Besides, I think it's pretty interesting how he thinks we can mechanise the AT Field. It might be worth encouraging him unofficially, and if he comes up with something..."

"The plan calls for him to be in a very specific mental state for an extended period of time," said Gendo, firmly. "We don't have time for him to play about with his toys. Perhaps if we had learned of this a year or more ago, we could use him, but we do not have the time to entertain his childish ways."

"You've never had time to entertain anyone," said Fuyutsuki.

* * *

Michael stepped into Admiral Jones' office and saluted. "Captain Ayanami reporting as ordered, sir!" he said. The Admiral waved casually to a seat, the desk clear for the first time in living memory.

"Take a seat, Mike," Jones said. "And at ease." Michael sat in the chair offered and leaned back. He got the feeling that if he closed his eyes he would go to sleep pretty much instantly; between Rose's nightmare last night, the ceremony and the short fire-fight earlier, he hadn't had much sleep. Not to mention he still needed a shower.

"What did you want, sir?" he asked. On the table behind the Admiral, a kettle boiled – he must have appropriated a tea trolley from somewhere.

"Two things, Mike," said the Admiral, standing up to pour the tea. "It's two sugars and milk, isn't it?" he asked. Michael nodded and Jones busied himself with task. "Firstly," he continued, passing a mug to Michael, "what do you think was going on with those infiltrators?"

Michael sighed, and sipped his tea. He revelled in the warmth before speaking. "Their tactics didn't make any sense," he said. "Why plant one bomb but not two? Why didn't they investigate when their bomb didn't go off? I took a look at that bomb they planted; they could have just put it in the corridor and gotten us both." Rose was, in fact, trying to get some answers from the sole surviving enemy. Michael had learned she could be quite persuasive when annoyed.

"I've sent out some enquiries, called in a few favours. No-one seems to know who these people were or why," said the Admiral. "I even got in touch with some more... unsavoury... friends of mine. Nothing."

"They didn't have any identifying markers, they acted worse than amateurs, and they went for the worst target in the area," Michael said. "Killing an Evangelion pilot is pretty much an act of war. They couldn't have gotten out without taking a few casualties; the security here's just too tight." He took another sip of tea.

"Maybe they weren't supposed to get out alive," reasoned Jones.

"Probably not," agreed Michael. "We're not going to get much further on this for a while. What was the other thing you wanted, sir?"

"I'll be heading off to the Jet Alone presentation next month," the Admiral said. "You'll be in command of the task force until I get back."

Michael's eyes widened, mug raised to his lips. "Are you... certain that's a good idea?" he asked. "I mean, I know I'm technically an officer, but... I've always been a front-line soldier. Rose is always the one who does the paperwork and stuff..."

"I wouldn't be giving you the job if I didn't think you could do it," Jones said. "You've shown how good a leader you are whenever you've had the opportunity. I want to see if you're a good commander too."

"There's something behind this, isn't there," said Michael. It was a safe bet; there usually was.

"We might end up with an expanded Evangelion corps in the next few years," admitted the Admiral. "You'd be in charge on the field in that case." He caught the look on Michael's face, and continued before he could say anything. "Yes, I know the Vatican Treaty technically prohibits the creation of more Evangelions, but this is politics. Even with the Longbow system, there's still a need for people like you. Evas are one of the best ways to project force – with appropriate upgrades, of course."

"I'm fourteen years old and a navy Captain already," said Michael, finishing his tea, "If I keep this up, I could be First Sea Lord by the end of the decade. Look, I know you've been pushing me up the ranks, all I want to know is why?"

The Admiral drew in a breath. This was going to be a long one. "What's the first thing you remember, Mike?" he asked.

"Waking up in Wales, barely able to breathe, with you dragging me out of Unit Seven's entry plug," Michael replied.

"I went to that town in Wales because I heard from someone very dear to me that they needed help," began Jones. "When the _Lancaster_ pulled into what passed for a port, all that was left of the town, of the army I was sent to fight and the man I loved was ruins and wreckage. When I saw that behemoth, the first thing that ran through my head was to lock every single gun, missile and torpedo we had onto that thing and blow it into oblivion. And then, I remembered something he'd once said to me; that he'd needed a pilot, and one had been... found. So, I had a team climb that thing's back, pull the manual ejection and looked into the pod. I saw... you. You'd been shot... three or four times, you had burn scars all over you, and you were barely awake, but you looked at me – a six-year-old kid – and smiled. I've used you as a soldier ever since; and you've grown to be a brilliant soldier. That'll have to make up for not letting you be a person."

Michael sat there, quietly thinking, for a while. "Thank you," he said, simply.

* * *

Shinji walked into the classroom, dreading what was probably about to happen. Surprisingly, however, few of the students acknowledged him; a few gave him a nod or thumbs up or something similar, but most seemed to ignore him. Rei glanced up at him briefly before turning to look out the window again – he got the impression that was her version of a wave – but he was interrupted by a shout before he could walk over to her.

"Yo, Shinji!" said Toji from the back of the classroom, waving. He was leaning over Kensuke's desk, the nerd watching some video or other on the school laptop. Shinji walked over, and Kensuke pointed at the screen.

"Check this out," he said. "Looks like you're out of a job."

"The Longbow system?" Shinji asked. Kensuke nodded. "I'm... familiar with the concept," Shinji continued, "But I'm not sure it'll be useful against an Angel. The first one I fought took an N-Two Mine and survived; most Evangelions aren't rated for that sort of firepower. Apparently, they've been getting even more powerful." He'd switched back into scientist mode without even noticing. "A Longbow satellite might be able to take down an Evangelion, but it might not even hurt the next Angel."

"Then how do you kill them?" asked Toji, confused.

"Destructive resonance," Shinji explained. "My AT Field – the shield I use – resonates with the Angel's, and effectively cancels it out. Once I'm through the AT Field, all I need to do is hit the core – the big glowing red thingy – and it seems to die. The AT Field is the hard part; without that they seem to die pretty easily."

"If you can call the last battle "easy"," Kensuke said. He continued in a low voice, "I've got burn marks from where it stabbed the Eva. It must have been... pretty painful."

"I didn't even notice until after it was dead," Shinji said. The other two stared at him in shock. "Of course, then it hurt like hell." Something on the screen caught Kensuke's attention, and his eyes widened with excitement.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed, "There's a close-up of Unit Seven! I haven't had any new footage of her since Jerusalem! Look at the new armour plating, it's supposed to be optimised for Eva-on-Eva combat, and that left arm has mounting for the shields the Russians unveiled last year! Oh man, is that a magazine on the back of the Trebuchet mount? That thing could level a city!" Shinji took the opportunity to escape, and took his seat, nodding to Rei as he sat.

"Hey Ayanami," he said. "Any new questions for me?" She turned to stare at him, and he felt the confidence boost from the class' reaction fade away.

"No," she said. _Okay_, Shinji thought, I_ know that's talkative for her from Misato's stories. She totally doesn't hate me._ Somehow, those words didn't exactly have the desired effect. The teacher chose that moment to walk in and start the class – twenty minutes late, too – so that was the end of the conversation, such that it was.

* * *

Toji cursed as the stuffed bear landed just millimetres away from the chute. "God damn it," he shouted, "Give me my damned bear already!" Kensuke pushed past him, slipping a coin into the slot, and took over. A few seconds later, the nerd had the bear. "How the hell did you do that?" Toji asked, incredulous.

"Well," said Kensuke, "you did put it right next to the hole..." He took one look at Toji's face, and hastily continued. "So you get to keep it!" he said, handing over the bear. "I hate to ask... but what do you want with one of these anyway?"

"It's for Mari," Toji said. Both fell quiet. "What's up with those two, anyway?" he asked, breaking the silence. He pointed to one of the shooting games, where Shinji and Rei were blasting through hordes of zombies. They'd burned through several continues before Rei had grasped the concepts behind the game, but now her gun arm was a blur of motion – a contrast to her calm, still face. Shinji was the opposite; his face showed the usual level of panic, but his arm was mostly still as he picked off zombies at the back of the screen.

"Shinji invited her after we invited him," Kensuke said. Toji felt a sudden urge to punch him for stating the obvious. "I don't think he actually thought she'd tag along."

"I meant why those two seem to get along," Toji said, exasperation showing in his voice. "Has Rei ever really spoken to anyone before? Hell, when she transferred in she didn't even introduce herself!"

"There was that one time -" began Kensuke, before Toji cut him off.

"We all agreed **never** to mention that again," he said, sharply. "The entire class made a pact, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kensuke conceded. "Maybe she just likes the fact he's a pilot or something? Or maybe she's just lonely?" Both of them considered the second option for a moment, before dismissing it completely.

"Here's a crazy thought," began Toji, "Maybe she's a pilot too. I mean, none of us really know much about her besides "she's quiet and is Rei", and NERV's got two Evangelions stationed here..."

Kensuke considered it, and nodded. "Unit Zero was supposedly damaged in an accident a week before the Angel showed up; isn't that when Rei got caught in a car crash or something?"

Shinji, meanwhile, was panicking. Not that there was anything unusual about that; it seemed his emotion range was restricted to panic mode, scientist mode or occasionally the state he (or rather Misato) had decided to call Gendo mode. Right now, the cause of the panic was the blue-haired girl beside him, who was mowing down the horde of zombies on the screen with unsettling efficiency. She'd been the one to pick out this game nearly as soon as they'd walked in, as well. That wasn't why he was panicking, though; he was panicking because she was here at all. He was well aware the only reason this wasn't considered a date by the standards of the rest of humanity was because of the presence of his other two sort-of friends. The panic wasn't calmed by the fact that the entire classroom – including the teacher – had frozen as soon as he'd asked her along with them, and somehow managed to freeze even more when she'd accepted.

"Please focus, Ikari," she said. _Oh god oh god oh god,_ he thought, _she's talking to me has she been doing that this whole time what if she thinks I've been ignoring her oh god_. "We have reached the final boss," she added. Sure enough, a cutscene was playing on the screen, showing the final boss – some sort of gigantic zombie or something – wiping out an entire platoon of soldiers. Anticlimactically, when the battle actually begun the boss died nearly instantly to the constant stream of shots coming from Rei. Shinji didn't even get to fire a single shot. Rei sighed as the boss died, drawing looks from Toji and Kensuke – it wasn't a sound they'd heard before. "That was not a feasible chain of events," she said, somehow sounding annoyed.

"Yeah," said Shinji, "There's no way a virus like that could work. Let alone the physics of that big guy at the end; he should have just collapsed under his own weight!"

Rei took this in, and nodded. "The plot is not realistic," she said. "If the government were to hear of a mansion over-run by such enemies, they would not send two agents armed with handguns. Nor would the man responsible for the virus allow them to wander around the mansion without deploying his most potent forces first."

Shinji laughed at that. "I suppose if that had happened, there wouldn't be much of a game," he said, when he'd recovered.

Rei nodded. "I have determined which game we shall play next," she said, walking over to a 4-player dogfighting game and taking one of the pods. The other three looked at each other, shrugged, and took their seats.

_I have no idea how to fly a plane_, thought Shinji as the pre-match screen flashed. He picked a plane at random – an American F-14 apparently – and hit the "ready" button. He took a breath and ran an equation as the countdown began, and gripped the flight stick.

_The best aircraft to choose is one that can function in any situation_, Rei thought. She selected an RAF Typhoon fighter, reasoning it was the best all-round aircraft available. She hit the ready button, and waited patiently for the countdown to end.

They loaded into a large, open arena; the map description told them it had a network of tunnels in the mountains below, along with lots of terrain on the surface to dogfight through. Toji, in an ancient Russian MiG-21b, dived into the caves at the first opportunity, while Shinji, having read the description of the Tomcat fighter he was piloting, elected to stay at altitude where his long-range missiles would have the advantage. Kensuke, who'd entered in a code given to expert players and received a Russian Su-47, dived down to the surface terrain after Toji, while Rei considered the situation and decided to go after the two pilots below her. Shinji loosed a missile after Toji as he dived, the ancient plane showing up at extreme range on his radar, but his target was in the caves long before his missile reached it. He circled his plane in the air, looking for any of the others, but they had all elected to go underground. He felt rather lonely.

Kensuke stalked through the caves, his plane well suited to the tight twists and turns. Toji's MiG flew ahead of him, but Kensuke hadn't been able to get a lock yet. Suddenly, a lock warning tone sounded out of his pod's speaker, and he pulled hard on the flight stick. His Berkut made the Immelman turn with ease, even in the cramped caves, and he fired his cannon – it was too late for a missile. Rei's Typhoon rolled onto one wing, avoiding his cannon fire, and launched a single missile. He blinked in shock as the "game over" screen came up; she'd managed to sneak up on him, even though he was in the better fighter!

Toji, meanwhile, had looped around through the tunnels to try to get behind Kensuke. He entered the cave Rei and Kensuke had duelled in, emerging right behind the blue-haired girl's fighter, and launched a salvo of air-to-air rockets from his plane – it had several short-range missiles, but he wanted to save those. The explosions rocked Rei's Typhoon as she banked around to face him, but didn't seem to do much damage, so he triggered the cannon. This time, he clipped her wing, but before he could follow up on the hit she'd used her own cannon with devastating accuracy. "My poor MiG," he said, despondently, as the death screen came up.

The damage to Rei's fighter forced her out of the caves lest she crash, and she followed the surface as close as she could to Shinji, taking advantage of the various spires and arches in the mountain range. Shinji, for his part, had noticed her fly out of the cave system, but had lost track of her shortly afterwards. A lock-on tone warbled, and he rolled the Tomcat on to one wing as a missile flew up from beneath him. It skimmed the bottom of his plane as it passed by him, and he spun around to face directly downwards. Another missile was already on the way, but now he could lock on to Rei... and he could fire four missiles at once, as opposed to her one. He loosed his missiles, rolling to avoid her second missile, and desperately hoped for a hit as they sped past each other, cannons blazing but failing to connect. Rei had managed to lose three of the missiles, but the last had managed to get into a tail-chase, and her fighter wasn't responding well to her controls. She stared impassively at the death screen, while Shinji blinked as the win screen came up just before he was going to crash into the ground.

"Good game," he said as they got out of the pods. "To be honest, you really should have won that."

"Your performance was... impressive," said Rei. "You did not get as many "kills" as I, but you maintained your advantage throughout the game. When confronted by a situation where your advantage was negated, you reacted quickly." She scanned the arcade before speaking again. "I have selected the next gam-"

Her phone rang. Shinji's heart raced; was it another Angel? He waited as she conversed, her side of the conversation being a series of "Yes"s. She put the phone down, and turned back to him. "I am required elsewhere," she said. "You are not required." With that, she walked out of the arcade.

"Man," said Toji after she left, "that was ice cold. "You are not required?""

"It- it's not like that," Shinji stammered, blushing. "She was just telling me it wasn't an Angel."

"How would she know if it was?" said Kensuke. Shinji belatedly realised they didn't know Rei was a pilot – he thought it would have been obvious.

"She... she... works with my Father at NERV," he improvised. It wasn't exactly a lie. "They didn't have my mobile number last time," he continued (leaving out the fact he didn't even possess a mobile phone until recently), "so they told me about the last one through her. And the sirens, of course."

"Ooooh!" squealed Kensuke, "What does Rei do at NERV? I have **got** to ask her this next time I see her!"

"Idiot!" snapped Toji, hitting the nerd on the back of the head, "It's probably classified!" He turned to Shinji, with an apologetic look. "Sorry man, but we're gonna have to split. It's been fun."

* * *

The next day was the beginning of a weekend, so Shinji found himself at a loss for things to do. He'd cleaned the apartment, fed the penguin (why the penguin was there was one of those things he'd decided not to ask) and got breakfast ready for the two of them, but now he was bored. He'd even done the laundry, and that was one of the few jobs he'd let Misato keep. _I can't even do anything with my equipment at the moment;I need a few new parts before I can actually find out anything new,_ he thought as he flicked through the channels on the television. An episode of Firefly was on, but he wasn't exactly into the show. A re-showing of the Avengers film that came out a few years back; they'd included a fictional Evangelion pilot as one of the Avengers, but he'd seen that film a dozen times. Not that he felt like watching anything involving an Evangelion at the moment; it was too much like work. He kept flicking through the channels. News? Nothing he could learn that he couldn't learn from poking Unit 01 with a stick, so no point. There was a romantic comedy on one of the other channels – something involving time travel, the ability to see ghosts and a whole lot of unlikeable characters, so he skipped through it.

That was when his phone rang. _Oh god please not an Angel_, he thought as he answered: "Hello?"

"Pilot Ikari," came Rei's voice. _What does she want this time?_

"Yes, Ayanami?" he said.

"I have noticed you are not performing well in the combat simulations Doctor Akagi has set for you," she replied. _Yeah, thanks Rei. I really needed that confidence booster while talking to you. _His performance – or lack thereof – in the sims was something he was working hard to not talk about. Even Misato had learned not to ask him about it.

"That's... correct," he conceded, reluctantly.

"The Commander has given me permission to help train you, as I am the only member of NERV in Tokyo-three with any prior combat experience in an Evangelion. Aside from yourself, obviously." Rei did not offer help so much as state that it was being given. Shinji smiled despite himself.

"That sounds good," he said. "When do we begin?"

"As soon as possible," she replied.

* * *

Shinji gasped as Rei's knife pierced his shoulder. At least it was only the shoulder this time; every other time it had gone right into his back. He'd learned that much, at least. He span, bringing his rifle around, and fired a burst into the cloud of smoke where Rei should have been. "Smoke launchers?" he asked, "Why don't I have those?"

Rei's voice came over the radio. "They are useless in anti-Angel combat. Angels only posses one sense; that is, the AT Field. Therefore, they were omitted from Unit One's design."

"I could use them right about now," he muttered, scanning the buildings around him. That was another thing he'd learned. A pair of gunshots rang out, the rounds pinging around his feet and Shinji ducked behind a building. He'd seen the muzzle flash, so all he needed to do now was try and get a good return shot in. A grin spread across his face as he came up with an idea. He set the rifle for full-auto, turned the electronic safety on, wedged a truck to keep the trigger down, and mounted it on the building he was on. Taking care to not cross the street Rei had shot at him from, he took cover behind another building, drew his pistol and turned the safety off.

The building didn't hold for long against the rifle's recoil, but it didn't matter. He'd forced Rei's head down, and now he could just wait for her to pop out. He steadied his aim, staring down the street. Rei's Evangelion poked out from behind a building, rifle ready – but Shinji was faster. He squeezed the trigger on the pistol, sending a round right into the orange Evangelion's head. _HahahahaAHAHAhahahaHAAHAHAha!_ he thought, _I showed her! Just like I'll show them all! _He tipped his head back, and laughed manically.

That was, of course, when Rei's return fire ripped through his chest, ending the simulation.

"Pilot Ikari," she said, a hint of reprimand in her voice, "the Evangelion does not have vital organs despite its humanoid appearance. Aim for the chest."

_God damn it,_ Shinji thought.

* * *

The weeks passed. Shinji settled into a sort of routine; doing chores, going to school, hanging out with his friends (sometimes including Rei, and the class representative seemed to be joining in more often now too), training on the weekends (he was beginning to win occasionally, and Rei had even said something that could be likened to being nearly praising), occasionally trying to get some useful data out of NERV (apparently he wasn't allowed near Unit 01 unless he was doing an experiment for Dr. Akagi), and then doing more chores. It was... pleasant.

_Maybe this is why Father called me here,_ Shinji found himself thinking one evening. Misato had invited Dr. Akagi over, and then insisted that she would be cooking, so he'd begun running a few simulations on his computer. _Maybe Father does want the best for me._ He sighed as the simulation gave an inconclusive result; he was working off of observed data from some declassified footage of the British Isles Campaign. It wasn't much to begin with; he'd worked out that this was the most incoming fire Unit 07 took on camera, so it was his provisional lower limit for the AT Field's capabilities, but that was it. Behind him, in another world, the doorbell rang.

The so-called meal, of course, consisted entirely of cheap instant food (_Not even the slightly better kind_, Shinji despaired) and rice. The rice was actually something he'd insisted on; he needed to eat something tonight, after all. From the looks of it, the only person who was actually enthusiastic about the meal was Misato. Even the penguin looked mildly apprehensive. He mostly tuned out the two women while they chatted away, occasionally saying "Yes" or "No" as appropriate. _Maybe I should ask Rei if she'd take the measurements for me,_ he thought, lost in his world. _She seems to be allowed near her Unit Zero. Or maybe I should try to get in touch with one of the national programs. Rei mentioned having family in one of them._

"Hey, Shinji!" said a voice from across the table a world away, and he snapped back. Misato had stood up to get a beer or something, leaving him and the doctor alone. "Earth to Shinji!" she said, waving a hand in front of his eyes.

"Sorry," he said. "I was... thinking."

"You've been working pretty hard recently," said the blonde-haired doctor. "I'll tell you what, since Rei's activation test is tomorrow I'll make sure you've got the day off."

"It's fine," he insisted. "Besides, I want to be there in case something goes wrong."

"And they say chivalry is dead," said the doctor. "What were you thinking about?"

Shinji paused; he'd only really explained this to Rei, and even then only because she wasn't someone you could easily refuse. "One of my projects," he said, opting for the closed approach.

"You're doing something on the AT Field, aren't you?" Dr. Akagi replied. "Don't be surprised; I designed half the equipment we use at NERV, and I got a look in your room earlier. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed."

"Most of it's just scraped together from old electronics," Shinji said. "Although I did manage to scrounge a Petrokov tube from an internet auction. Apparently used by the Chinese back in oh-eight."

"I'd give you access to NERV's stuff," said Akagi with a sigh, "but the Commander insists it's classified beyond your clearance. Although..." she took on a thoughtful look, "if you keep improving as well as you have been these past few weeks, I might see if I can't get you some data or something." Shinji's face lit up.

"I'd really like that," he said. "I think I've nearly got a model that -"

"YEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" shouted Misato as she walked back into the room, crunching an empty beer can in her hand. "What're you two talking about?" she asked as she sat down.

"Nothing much. It turns out our little Shinji here's quite the scientist," said Dr. Akagi. Shinji fell silent, and began to slip back into his world. "Anyway," she continued, "I gotta go soon. Early morning tomorrow, with the activation test and all. Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed, getting Shinji's attention. "You can do me a favour, one of you." She reached into her handbag and drew out a NERV ID card. "I kept forgetting this; Rei's card is about to expire and I'm not going to see her before she tries to get into NERV tomorrow. Can one of you give it to her for me?" She passed the card over to Misato, who promptly gave it to Shinji.

"Shinji here can do it," said Misato, slurring slightly. "He's got quite the crush on the girl!" Shinji stared at the card, thinking. _Card number zero-zero-zero-zero-three? How long has Rei been at NERV? _"Hey, Shinji! Stop staring at her picture!" teased Misato from beside him. He blushed, reflexively, and tried to speak. _Damn it,_ he thought as he spluttered, _I hate when I get like this_.

* * *

The next day, Shinji found himself in front of a very dilapidated apartment block. _Okay, there's no way Rei can live in a place like this. More to the point, how the hell this place end up like this? This building can't be older than five years! This has got to be a trick, or test or something._ He checked the address Misato had given him. This was the building. Misato hadn't even been drunk when she'd written it down; she'd taken some sort of pills after Akagi had left last night. He sighed, and stepped inside.

The elevators weren't working, of course, but he probably wouldn't have taken them even if they were. He didn't want to die in a falling steel box. As a result, he was rather out of breath when he got to the floor with the first 400-series apartments. Apartment number 402 was, of course, at the end of the corridor. _Seriously, this place looks like a deserted war zone. Why the hell does she live here, of all places? _A thought crossed his mind. _She's not a psycho, is she? They say piloting does something to your mind, and she does seem the type... _Images of their training sessions flashed through his mind, and he gulped. Overriding his apprehension, he pushed onwards, knocking at the door to what was apparently Rei's apartment. It was occupied – he could tell that from the massive amount of mail stuffed into the letter box. He counted several eviction notices amongst the mess. _Okay, psycho or not I am having **words** with Misato later._

He realised he'd been standing there for about a minute with no answer. He knocked again, and called out; "Ayanami? Are you in there?" There was no answer, but Shinji could just about hear running water. He sighed, and leaned against the door. The door, being neither locked nor properly closed, opened before him, depositing him on the floor of Rei's hallway. The corridor outside was dirty. Inside... well, he needed a new word to describe the inside. _Yes, **words will be had**, _thought Shinji (and about a kilometre away, Misato sneezed). But that wouldn't solve the immediate problem. He felt his breath become sharper and quicker as the panic rose. The place needed to be tidied. _Are those... those **are!** Why the hell does she just leave used bandages on the floor? How the hell is she still alive?_

He stood up, threw his bag on the bed (which also desperately needed changing) and got to work. He found a few plastic shopping bags, and started scooping rubbish into them. The bandages got their own bag – he didn't even touch them with his hands, using a pair of rubber gloves (unused, by the look of them) he'd found in one of the kitchen cupboards. He finished the immediate job, tying off the last plastic bag, and sat on the bed, taking care to use his bag as a cushion. A pair of glasses on Rei's night-stand caught his attention. _Rei... doesn't wear glasses?_ He stood up, and picked them up. _G. Ikari? These are... Father's? I wonder if...  
_

He made the decision, and put the glasses on. A cold smile spread across his face. _I am Shinji Ikari!_ he thought, _and __**NOTHING**__ can stop me! _He spread out his arms, threw back his head, and laughed. "AhahahAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" _All I need is a lab coat...  
_

"Pilot Ikari," came a quiet voice from behind him. _Oh __**shit**__. _"Why are you laughing?" _Really? That's the question she asks? Not "why are you here", or "what the utter fuck, Pilot Ikari?"_

He turned towards the girl. "I just realised why -" _**Oh SHIT**__.  
_

She was naked.

_Okay,_ thought the one part of Shinji's mind that was still close to functional after that shock, _at least now we know that hair colour's natural._ The rest of him was warring over whether or not to follow his body's... natural programming. She tilted her head, like a confused puppy, and a part of him broke off from that discussion to note that part of his heart seemed to be melting.

"You just realised wha-" Rei's eyes snapped to the glasses before she could finish the sentence, and she started walking towards him with a determined look on her face. _Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit_ thought the part of Shinji responsible for panicking right now. The girl reached for the glasses, and Shinji stepped back in reflex-

and tripped, and then they were both on the floor, and she was naked and on top of him and _**OH SHIT**_.

His mind gave in, and decided to replace the image before him with a "technical difficulties" card. Soothing music began to play in his head.

* * *

Shinji sat bolt upright, panting. _That had to be a dream. There was no way in hell **that** just happened._ Then, he noticed wasn't in his bed. _Oh shit._

"Pilot Ikari," said Rei. Shinji nearly panicked again, but forced himself to run through the thirty-seven Rogerson equations. That seemed to work. "Are you well?" she asked.

"I'm... fine," Shinji lied. Rei stared at him, now wearing her school uniform. "Okay," he admitted, "Maybe not, but I'll be fine soon." He hesitated, then decided he had to ask. "What happened?"

"You fell," Rei said, "And suffered a minor blow to the head. You do not appear to have a concussion, but I deemed it best to ensure your safety before I left."

That comment sparked a thought in Shinji's brain. "Oh, yeah!" he said, reaching for his bag. "I've got your new ID card; that was why I was in here. Doctor Akagi asked me to give it to you..." he trailed off as she took the card from his hand.

"Could you please answer my earlier question?" Rei asked. _Oh, right. That._

"Like I was saying, before -" he cut off for a second, blood rising to the surface in two areas as a memory played in his mind's eye, "before that happened, I realised why Father wears those glasses." Rei kept staring at him, so he explained, "It's... a shield. A way to stop thinking about what other people think. When I put them on... I felt like I did back in the hanger before my first fight." Rei nodded, accepting the explanation, and moved to leave the apartment. She paused by the door.

"Are you coming, Pilot Ikari?"

* * *

Needless to say, the journey into NERV was not very comfortable for Shinji. He kept finding himself looking at Rei, and having a certain memory play out in his head. Distressingly, he found himself thinking about her in other situations. He'd caught sight of her in her swimsuit, once, and now a parade of Reis was walking through his mind in various costumes. _NO!_ he thought, forcing the images away. _I am NOT some hormone-ridden ape! I am SHINJI IKARI! _The images were replaced by the surprisingly comforting series of equations, although he couldn't quite get rid of the schoolteacher-Rei who was writing them on a mental blackboard. _I should probably see a psychiatrist at some point_, he thought.

Before he knew it, they were on the escalator that led from the entrance to the NERV Pyramid above them to the Evangelion cages. He noted there was a lot of escalator. _This could get awkward_, he realised.

"Why are you here?" asked Rei. _Okay, that one makes sense._

"I wanted to be ready in Unit One if anything happens... like last time," he answered. Rei turned to look at him at that. _Yup,_ he thought, _awkwardness abounds._

"Pilot Ikari; the Commander has personally looked over every component of Unit Zero in preparation for this test," she said. "There is no reason to be worried."

"Like I'd trust **him** to do the chores back home, let alone check an Evangelion before a test," Shinji snapped. He was not exactly in the mood to hear about his Father, especially not after seeing Rei's apartment. He noticed the expression on Rei's face change to something approximating anger, and then she slapped him. _Okay, **what?**_ "-the FUCK?" he said.

"The Commander has done much for us both. Please do not insult him in my presence," said Rei.

_Okay, then_, thought Shinji, the emotional turmoil of the day overwhelming his panic, _let's do this._

"Firstly," he said, coldly, "**never** hit me again, unless I directly ask you to." The part of him that had read a lot of books knew to leave some sort of exit clause in that one. "Secondly, **NEVER **hit me again, unless I directly ask you to." He noticed he was using a line from a film he'd seen about the Evangelion pilots fighting some monsters a few years back. Atlantic Rim, or something. "Thirdly, so far all he's done for me is cause severe emotional trauma that I will probably never recover from and conscript me into a war against an alien race that we know nothing about aside from "stab it in the big red thing." Finally, he hasn't exactly done much for you, either." The angry part of him revelled in the confused look that spread across Rei's face, while the rest of him forced him to turn away and stop talking.

Needless to say, the rest of the journey was undertaken in silence.

* * *

Shinji sat in Unit 01 as Unit 00 went through the activation test. _I have got to apologise to her afterwards,_ he thought as he waited. _And one of these days I swear I'll..._ he shook his head. _No point in thinking about that right now. I'd never go through with it._

"Pilot synchronisation is steady at... forty percent! We have a stable connection!" came Dr. Akagi's voice over the radio. "She's lost a few points, but we were expecting that." Shinji breathed a sigh of relief, bubbles rising in the LCL. _Thank whatever god is listening today for that_, he thought.

The sirens began wailing.

"Angel detected!" came another voice. Shinji felt his heart sink. _At least I might have Rei this time,_ he consoled himself. _No,_ he decided, _I'll do this alone._

"Do we deploy Unit Zero?" said Misato.

"No," said his Father. "Deploy Unit One. Alone." _It seems we're thinking the same thing for once, Father._

The Evangelion locked onto the launch platform as Misato laid out the strategy. "Get moving as soon as the launch clamps unlock," she said. "Determine its capabilities, then see if you can kill it. If you can't, fall back."

"Got it," acknowledged Shinji. G-forces pushed him down into his seat as per usual, and he tried to force himself into the angry state he had been in early. _I am going to kill this one quickly and easily_, he thought. The G-forces stopped as the Evangelion came to a halt...

"**MASSIVE ENERGY BUILDUP IN TARGET!**" a voice screamed. "GET OUT OF THERE!" _Wait, what?_

The wall in front of him opened, revealing the Angel. A massive diamond. _What?_ He watched in slow motion as a beam lanced out from the tip of the Diamond facing him, heading for his chest. _The clamps should have released by now, why can't I move?_ It tore through his AT Field like it wasn't there, and then it was hitting him and burning through the armour and he couldn't move and he couldn't run or fight or hide and he'd never get to apologise to Rei if this kept up and -


	10. Chapter 10

"The order is confirmed. The Longbow system is to be deployed. Target is the Angel currently drilling in the centre of Tokyo-three."

"Roger that. Looking for a sat in the right area... there we go. Satellite Twenty-Three! It's your lucky day!"

"Fire when ready."

"Like I was going to wait for an order!"

* * *

160 kilometres above sea level sat a collection of very unusual satellites; 36 in total. Each one was a simple design: two solar panels, a computer core, a communications array,a manoeuvring system and six massive tungsten rods, each attached to their own rocket booster. One of these satellites, acting on commands received from Camelot Station in a much higher orbit, oriented itself to point the rods retrograde. It waited for a few seconds to get into the optimal firing position, then simultaneously released two of the rods and fired their engines.

The rods fell back into the atmosphere, the first stage of their rocket boosters falling away as their on-board computers noted the change. The plasma sheath and shock heating of re-entry blinded and deafened the computers for a few minutes, and the projectiles reverted to a ballistic trajectory. Eventually, they slowed enough that shock heating was no longer occurring, and they spotted their target. Another command deployed their manoeuvring wings and fired the second stage of their rockets. Just before the shock heating started again, the computers confirmed they were on-target.

A few seconds later, both tungsten rods slammed into the side of the Sixth Angel, each one delivering the explosive force of a mid-range nuclear weapon to an area no more than a metre on any side.

A gargantuan fireball filled the sky.

* * *

"No effect," confirmed Misato, her voice dull. The Angel, that damned Diamond, was still floating serenely above the direct centre of the city, drill extended. One of the bridge technicians looked at her in shock.

"Nothing?!" he asked.

"Nothing," Misato said.

"FUCK," shouted the technician.

* * *

Rei sat by Shinji's bed, waiting for him to wake up. She didn't exactly know why she wanted to do this, so she had decided to go along with the feeling in order to find out. She had been doing that a lot recently.

The Commander had forbade her to launch in Unit 00 after Shinji was nearly killed by the Angel. She trusted him, despite Shinji's words earlier. _The Commander is a rational actor,_ she reasoned, _and I am aware of his plan. The plan calls for the Angels to die. Therefore, it is logical to assume he will not sabotage the effort to kill the Angels._

On the bed in front of her, Shinji slept. She looked at him, trying to place him in the logical scheme of things. _The plan does not require me to be on particularly friendly terms with Pilot Ikari. While there is a small tactical benefit from doing so, I am aware of the fact that there is no need for us to be tactically effective. And yet, I find myself drawn to him anyway. Why?_

_There are several reasons,_ she thought. _He is unusual by the standards of most of my "peers". His scientific theories are interesting, and deserve further investigation. Unlike my "peers", he is willing to answer my questions immediately, rather than forcing me to observe him. _If anyone had been able to see her face, they might have seen her blush, if they were using thermal sensors with an amazing resolution. _Not that I would particularly mind observing him_, thought the part of her that was a fourteen-year-old girl. _He has intervened to save my life or enrich it in some way multiple times. The only other person who has made such a sustained effort is the Commander. _The analytical part of her picked up the thought, _I wonder if it is a genetic anomaly? That males of the Ikari line are particularly receptive to a certain subset of humanity? _She doubted it. There were too many environmental variables that could account for the coincidence. _Regardless, the answer has been found. I am drawn to him for the same reason I am drawn to the Commander. _She sat back, satisfied. Her heart stopped for a beat as she thought of a problem. _The Commander's plan may actively call for us to __**not**__ be close. I should... confirm this before continuing on this course of action. _Some part of her knew what she'd do if the Commander did call for her to cut ties with the boy in front of her, although the rest of her wasn't quite ready to admit it.

Another problem occurred to her. _What if he is no longer interested in any sort of friendly relationship? _Again, her heart skipped a beat at the thought, and she mentally noted to ask Doctor Akagi about the phenomenon, just in case. _My actions earlier may have dissuaded him from that course. I will need to find some way to repair the damage. I will have to consult someone later._

She tensed slightly as the door opened behind her, but she could tell that is was Misato. "The Longbow system didn't do anything to the Angel," the Captain said. "We're going to plan B."

"What is plan B?" Rei asked.

"I'll tell you on the way. We're going on a trip," replied Misato. Rei hesitated before standing up; she didn't want to leave Shinji behind. "He'll be fine," said Misato from behind her. "Come on."

* * *

Several hours later, Shinji woke up. For the first time in several years, he didn't immediately sit bolt upright, but simply lay there. _Okay. That happened,_ he thought as memories of the battle flooded into his mind. _That said, I have no idea how they got me out of that mess._ He sat up, his entire body protesting at the action, and looked around the room. "Hey Ayanami," he said as he noticed the blue-haired girl sitting next to his bed. "Any idea what happened out there?" _Please just talk about the fight __**after**__ I blacked out._

"The launch clamps suffered a minor mechanical failure," Rei explained. "They delayed opening by three seconds, and by the time they recovered the Angel's beam had connected." _That explains that, at least._

"What happened after I blacked out?" Shinji asked, giving voice to his real question.

"Technically speaking, Pilot Ikari, you did not "black out". You died," said Rei. Part of Shinji struggled to take this in, while another part noticed the girl's voice almost seemed to have an emotion in it when she said that. "You were successfully resuscitated, but you were medically dead for fifteen seconds. After the beam connected, Captain Katsuragi ordered the detonation of the explosive charges lining the city block, and managed to recover you and Unit One. Since then, several attempts have been made to destroy the Angel. So far, it has resisted all conventional weapons fire and two Longbow projectiles."

Shinji took a breath at that, and rested his head on his hands. _I predicted this, but still... _"Do we have a plan?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Rei. "We have managed to appropriate an antiparticle accelerator from the JSSDF. With enough power, it should theoretically overcome the Angel's AT Field."

"So I don't need to go out again?"

"Unfortunately, the system is highly experimental. We have been forced to route the targeting system through the Evangelion in order to obtain adequate control."

Shinji felt his heart sink. "So I **do** need to go out again," he sighed.

"Possibly. Theoretically, I can use it from Unit Zero."

"I'll do it," Shinji said. "You said an antiparticle gun, right?" Rei nodded, and a storm of numbers and ideas flooded through his mind. "Okay. Get me the technical specifications and meet me... where's the gun right now?"

"It is currently being assembled on-site at a firing point three kilometres north of Matsushiro base," said Rei.

Shinji sighed. "Well, find someone who can drive and meet me at... entrance fifteen in about an hour."

Rei nodded, and turned to leave. Before she could reach the door, however, she heard a crash from behind her. Shinji had fallen over as he tried to get out of the bed. Part of her mind noted he was naked, and Shinji might have seen her blush slightly had he not been preoccupied with the fact he'd just fallen over. She moved to help him, but he recovered enough to wave her off.

"No time," he said, panting. "You'll need to give me the details of the operation on the way, as well."

"Yes," Rei said, and left.

* * *

"So, when do we launch?" asked Rose, smiling. Her helmet was cradled in her arm; they'd been waiting for the order since the Angel had been detected several hours ago.

"We're not," replied Michael, stepping into the ready room and throwing his helmet onto a bench. He sat down next to it and cradled his head in his hands. It seemed he was never going to be able to catch up on his missed sleep.

"Why the fuck not?" Rose asked. She sat next to him and pulled him into a hug. Michael almost drifted off then and there, before Rose continued; "We've had to sit the past two Angels out, and now we finally get enough warning to launch, and we're sitting it out?"

"Blame the UN," said Michael. "They're annoyed that Longbow didn't do anything. Besides, they haven't voted in that amendment to the Vatican Treaty yet; the vote was scheduled for next month."

"And we have to listen to them because of the whole global unity thing," Rose finished. "Gods fucking damn it!"

"I'll give my sister a phone call in a bit; NERV has something up their sleeve and I kind of want to know what," Michael continued, ignoring Rose's outburst. It had never proven good for his health to respond to them.

"Do you really think she'll tell you?" said Rose, her voice making it perfectly clear what she thought.

"She does still owe me a favour from Jerusalem. Besides, even if she doesn't it'd be interesting to speak to her. Maybe I'll get the number of NERV's new star pilot," Michael replied, fiddling with a wire on his prosthetic. The hand twitched in response.

"Yeah, right," Rose said sarcastically.

* * *

Shinji sat in the bowels of the gigantic cannon which would be used to smite the Angel. He'd found a pair of thick goggles somewhere, and was busy trying to connect a laptop to the cannon. Rei had noticed that he'd changed somehow when he'd heard about the gun; he seemed to be giving orders rather than taking them. She leant against the edge of the hole leading back down to the ground, waiting for him to ask for something. While technically speaking, they were equals on the chain of command, she'd independently discovered the old adage of "when in doubt, follow the person who looks like they know what they're doing."

"Yes!" Shinji exclaimed, breaking her out of her thoughts. The laptop's screen showed a readout from the cannon – current power input, the status of the various components, and the current strength of the magnetic field. The window showing the amount of positrons stored in the cannon's reservoir was blank; it would be supplied when the operation began. "Alright, Ayanami," he continued, "pass me the rest of the cables up." A pale hand reached up from the opening, clutching the cables leading to the various sensors Shinji and Rei had set up over the past half an hour. He connected them to the laptop, and began clicking through various menus until he found the one that controlled the laser array.

"Pilot Ikari," she asked, "what purpose does this accomplish? NERV's science team has already accounted for all of the data you are gathering. Your efforts appear to be redundant."

"Yes," said Shinji, not looking up. Rei felt slightly disappointed. _Why? _she asked herself, _the Commander rarely looks at me when he speaks and I never feel like this when he does not. This requires investigation._ "- basically I'm hoping we can manipulate the Hughes effect, that is the way in which the AT Field interacts with light, in order to create a localised weakness in the Angel's AT Field. That, combined with the power of the beam, should be enough for us to get through. In addition to that, I'm trying to link the cannon to multiple different sensor arrays, rather than just Unit One's, so it should be more accurate. It would help if the MAGI would let me access NERV's sensor net, or if they'd help in any way whatsoever rather than just sitting there uselessly."

_That is something I can help with. _"Pilot Ikari, allow me to use your laptop for a short amount of time," she said. Shinji looked at her, shrugged, and slid the laptop over to her. She tapped in her access code for the MAGI, and gave them a priority task to help Shinji with his work. _The quicker he is finished here, the quicker he will revert to his normal self,_ she thought. She had decided on the drive over that she didn't particularly like how maniac Shinji got when he switched into what he called "scientist mode", to say nothing of the one time she'd been awake to see him in his other emotional state. "There," Rei said, passing the laptop back. A few minutes later, Shinji looked up in surprise.

"It's done," he said, closing the laptop. "All that's left to do now is wait."

* * *

"_Hello sister,"_ came Michael's voice over the phone. _"I got you a present. Happy birthday!" _Rei stared at the massive shield in front of her, phone held to her ear. A pair of heavy transport VTOLs had just dropped it off, a few seconds before her phone had rang.

"It is not my birthday today," she said. She didn't actually know when her birthday was, and even if she did she would probably never celebrate it.

"_It's a joke, sis," _replied Michael. _"Anyway, I managed to get the Chinese to give you guys that shield that just arrived. Rose ran some sims, apparently it'll take the Angel's beam for..." _there was the sound of paper rustling, _"eighty-three point six six recurring seconds."_

"That will be useful," said Rei. _That will allow for Pilot Ikari to recharge the rifle and fire a second shot before the Angel can harm him again, _she considered. _I will inform Captain Katsuragi of this development._

"_So... what's actually going on over there, anyway?"_ asked Michael before she could end the conversation.

"I am not allowed to divulge details regarding Operation Yashima," replied Rei. "Furthermore, I do not have time for an extended conversation. Goodbye, Michael." She ended the call, and entered in Captain Katsuragi's phone number.

"_Hey, Rei, what's up?" _greeted the Captain as she answered the phone.

"I have received a gift that could alter our strategy for the upcoming battle," Rei replied. "Please report to the forward staging area."

"A shield?" asked Misato as she noticed the gigantic slab of metal and ceramics. "Who the hell sent you a gift like this?"

"My brother," answered Rei. "Regardless, if we use this correctly the strategy has a much higher chance of success." _Fifteen point eight one two percent rather than eight point one recurring, to be precise,_ she thought. She hadn't taken Shinji's modifications to the positron cannon into account yet, because they were an unknown quantity.

"Yeah," Misato said, "I was planning to use Unit Zero as a decoy, but with this we can ensure Shinji'll get both shots off if he misses the first one."

"We could still use Unit Zero as a decoy," Rei pointed out. She wasn't particularly attached to the idea, but a multi-layered defence would work better.

"That thing won't stand up properly without something like an Eva propping it up," Misato countered, "and your AT Field could buy some more time out of it." Rei considered this, and nodded.

"What's this thing?" asked Shinji, walking over from Unit 01. He'd found a lab coat and rubber gloves somewhere, and was a Tesla coil away from completing the mad scientist look. Rei glanced at Misato, willing her to keep quiet. _He will not react well to being told I am to be used as a human shield_, she thought.

"It's a shield," said Misato, ignoring Rei. "Rei's going to use it to keep you covered out there."

Shinji took a few seconds to process this fully. "That... sounds like an immensely dangerous idea," he said carefully. "I don't think-"

"It is my choice, Pilot Ikari," Rei interrupted. "Please do not make an issue out of this." Misato stared at the two of them in shock; she'd never seen Rei interrupt someone, and they were acting almost like a married couple.

Shinji stared at Rei for a moment, mentally willing her to reconsider. "Fine," he said, backing down. "But don't jump in the way unless you have to, got it?" Rei nodded.

"I'll just leave you two alone, then," said Misato, striding back to the command bunker. It would be inaccurate to say neither of them noticed – Rei was perfectly aware of the Captain's departure, just as much as she was aware of the position of every single technician working on the cannon. She did, however, choose to label the information as irrelevant.

Shinji sighed and sat down, leaning against the edge of the gargantuan shield and closing his eyes. Rei took the opportunity to sit beside him, watching as the tension he'd been carrying since he'd woken up at around midday slid off of him. "Why are you so worried, Ikari?" she asked. He opened his eyes and smiled at her. Something about the smile invited a question, so she asked "What?"

"That's the first time you've just called me "Ikari", Ayanami," he said, chuckling. "not "Pilot Ikari", just "Ikari". Almost like I'm not entirely defined by the whole Evangelion thing."

"I apologise, Ikari. I did not know you found the title "Pilot" so uncomfortable," Rei said. Shinji waved it off.

"I'd have mentioned it before if it really bothered me," he said. He thought for a while, then took a breath and continued, staring firmly at the floor, "Although while we're on the subject of apologies... I'm sorry I snapped at you this morning."

If he'd been looking up, he might have seen her eyes widen in surprise. "It... it is okay, Ikari," she said after a while, "I... must also apologise for my actions this morning."

Shinji looked up at her, smiling again. "It's fine, Ayanami," he said. "There is one thing that's bugging me, though, if you'd like to answer one of my questions for a change."

"I have answered eighteen questions from you, Ikari," said Rei, before realising that could, in context, be seen as a denial. "Ask."

"How did you end up piloting an Eva? Hell, how did you even get into NERV?" asked Shinji.

"I... do not recall," replied Rei. "It is... frustrating." Shinji looked at her, confused, so she continued, "I posses a memory which borders on perfection. I do not often forget things. Despite this, I cannot remember anything that occurred before May the eleventh of six years ago. I was, apparently, working at NERV since before that date."

Shinji gave her a sympathetic look. "I can see why that'd be annoying," he said. He looked up at the stars, and closed his eyes. "We've only got an hour till launch," he murmured, "You should probably sleep."

Rei watched as Shinji's breathing slowed. She decided to follow his advice, and closed her eyes to sleep. She was just drifting off when she heard his voice from beside her.

"Don't get yourself killed out there," he said, voice almost inaudible. "Consider that an order."

* * *

Kensuke watched with rapt attention from the roof of the school building as the side of an entire mountain opened up. "There's Unit One!" he exclaimed as the purple warmech strode out of the new opening. The classmates around him cheered; finally, someone was going to take down that damned floating diamond!

A gasp rose up from the crowd as another Evangelion – this one orange, with a single eye – strode out behind Unit 01, grasping a gigantic shield. "That's Unit Zero!" shouted Toji, to more cheers. He turned to Kensuke, lowering his voice. "And look who's not here," he said. "Looks like we were right."

"Yeah," agreed Kensuke. Before he could continue, one of the teachers showed up and started yelling at the class to get back down to the shelter.

* * *

Shinji took up position behind the positron cannon, and settled in for a wait. He ran through a breathing exercise Rei had taught him, and practised lining up a shot with the gigantic rifle. While he couldn't do a practise run of the calibrations required to get the gun to work properly, he could at least get a feel for its weight. In front of him, Rei crouched holding the giant shield. _I have to get this right the first time,_ he decided. _If Rei gets hurt because of me..._

"Units Zero and One are in position," said Misato over the radio. "Operation commencing in five... four... three... two... one... COMMENCE OPERATION YASHIMA!"

The plan was simple. The basic idea was to use the various conventional forces in the area to distract the Angel while Shinji waited for the cannon to charge. Then, the MAGI would calculate the massive array of variables needed to make sure the gun would fire in a straight line, and Shinji would pull the trigger once sighting on the Angel's core.

The first part of the operation worked perfectly. The city's defensive turrets unleashed a storm of fire against the Angel, while entire regiments of artillery pounded it from afar. Several wings of aircraft – mostly JASDF F-15s and Russian Tu-22 bombers – dropped several tonnes of explosives onto it. The Angel shrugged off all of the fire, as predicted, but in doing so it was forced to keep its attention to close range, allowing the charging sequence to continue uninterrupted.

"What the hell's it doing?" asked Shinji as the Angel shifted from a diamond shape into a hexagonal cone, deflecting a super-heavy artillery round. As he waited for an answer, it shifted into a sort of halo shape, spitting beams from smaller diamonds every few metres along the halo's circumference.

"We're reading shifts in its AT Field every time it does that. Some shapes seem focussed on defence, others on offence," replied Doctor Akagi from the command bunker.

"Cannon charging complete in fifteen seconds!" shouted one of the technicians. Shinji put the Angel's behaviour aside, and focussed on the task at hand. He opened the rifle's bolt, inserting a combination fuse / positron battery and slamming it into the rifle's chamber. Running through another breathing exercise, he sighted down the rifle's scope and lined up the three sets of crosshairs on the dead centre of the Angel. Three seconds.

Two.

One.

Shinji breathed out a little, held the breath, and squeezed the trigger.

* * *

Rei watched as Shinji's beam lanced out towards the Angel. It looked to be on target -

The Angel shifted into an offensive stance, a gigantic star, and fired its own beam straight at Shinji's sniper nest. The two beams met halfway between the two, curved around each other as their magnetic bottles interacted, and slammed out to the sides, blowing apart an entire city block.

_The Angel will be able to fire another shot before Shinji has recharged for another shot,_ she realised. Gripping the shield in Unit 00's hands, she stood up.

She didn't see the Angel's second shot lance out, but she felt it hit even through the massive shield. She strained to brace herself against the mountainside as the beam pushed her back. The ablative coating on the shield was working... for now. She could vaguely hear Shinji's voice yelling at her, telling her to run away, but she simply switched off the radio and braced Unit Zero's shoulder against the shield. _I **will** protect him_, thought some part of her. The rest of her agreed.

_Twenty seconds before the shield fails,_ another part of her noted. _He should have fired again by now. This isn't working..._

* * *

Shinji was busy trying to recode the laser array. The charging cycle was complete, but without the modifications he was making he was certain the next shot would fail too. _Damn it! _he thought, _This is taking too long!_ A timer he'd set up before the operation began showed Rei had ten seconds left on the shield. He slammed in the last line of code, skipped over the final check, and slammed in the second fuse / battery.

It had taken fifteen seconds since his last check.

He sighted back on the Angel, set off the laser array and squeezed the trigger on the rifle.

The beams speared out, the laser disrupting both the magnetic bottle holding the Angel's beam together and part of the Angel's AT Field. Shinji's positron beam ripped through the Angel's beam, ignored its AT Field completely and blew a hole right through the centre of the Angel.

It screamed, and died.

Shinji was already running towards Unit 00. He waded into the new lake of lava created by the heat of the Angel's attack, and dragged it to the shore. When the remote ejection command failed, he slammed his knife into the entry plug hatch, and pulled out Rei's entry plug. He set it down carefully at the edge of a field, before popping his own hatch, jumping down from his Evangelion and running towards it.

* * *

Rei was vaguely aware of someone shouting outside. She couldn't focus on the words, but she knew it was someone trying to help her. Someone... important? She tried to take a breath, and choked. The LCL had drained as it became too hot, leaving only smoke in the entry plug. The shout outside became a scream of rage, and suddenly air poured in to the plug. She took a grateful breath, and tried to focus on the person standing in the now-open hatch. He seemed to be crying?

"Shinji..." she began, barely able to get the words to form, "why... why are you... crying?" She could smell the all-too-familiar scent of burned flesh, mingled with the smell of burning plastic. He'd opened it?

The boy climbed into the entry plug, and picked her up out of the pilot's seat. He carried her out into the fresh air, and rested her against a tree. Her head started to clear. _Did I just call him Shinji? _she asked herself.

"I'm just... so glad you're okay!" he said, smiling. "I told you not to get yourself killed, you idiot!"

"I'm... sorry," Rei replied, "I... don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Just... smile," Shinji said. "and be glad you're alive." In the distance, the sirens of the medevac teams wailed.

Rei looked at Shinji, and smiled.


	11. Chapter 11 (Part 1 of 2)

"I have to congratulate you, Gendo," remarked Fuyutsuki. "So far, aside from Shinji's antics everything appears to be going as planned."

"Of course it is," countered Gendo, "These battles were laid down in the scrolls millennia ago. There is nothing that can be done to alter their course, and nothing that can change the final outcome."

"You of all people should know to avoid saying things like that," Fuyutsuki said. "You remember how ambiguous some of those passages are? Not to mention what could happen if, say, an outside force like _the other Evangelion programs_ were to intervene?"

Gendo turned his head to look at his assistant, the first time he'd done so for a very long time. "I have worked tirelessly to ensure the success of this plan. If anyone intervenes, they will die. It is as simple as that," he intoned. "Besides, this is one thing the old men actually agree with me on."

"If you are certain," said Fuyutsuki, still not convinced.

* * *

Shinji sat in the office, glaring at the two women opposite him and shaking with fear. He'd been dragged off as soon as the VTOL carrying him and Rei had landed inside the Geo-Front, and had ended up in this office before even being allowed to wash the smell of blood out of his plug suit. "What's the problem?" he asked, forcing his voice to stay level.

"You modified the Positron Cannon without my permission, that's the problem!" shouted Ritsuko. "If you'd gotten a single thing wrong, you'd have blown us all up before the operation even began! Not to mention you could have wrecked it! What were you thinking?!"

"I... I..." Shinji flailed about verbally, wishing the anger to return so he could explain. "I... was trying to..." _Damn it! Focus, Shinji!_ "I was trying to make sure the operation would work," he finished, lamely.

"And what exactly makes you qualified to climb around the insides of the second most expensive weapon system on the planet?" asked Ritsuko sharply.

"Did it work?" asked Misato. Ritsuko glared at her. "If whatever he did worked..."

"The data is inconclusive," said Ritsuko. "The MAGI are still processing it. However, the fact they were willing to help does imply they thought it would work." She sighed. "That doesn't mean he should just be allowed to do what he likes. There has to be consequences for this, Misato." Shinji felt a need to point out he was sitting right across from the Doctor, but couldn't articulate it.

"Make him do more training or something. Look, whatever happened, we pulled it off. If he'd gotten someone hurt, I'd push for something severe, but as it is... well, I get the feeling that if we locked him up again he'd just take Unit One and leave," said Misato.

"I am **right here**," Shinji pointed out. _I wouldn't just take Unit One, either, _thought the darker part of his mind. The two women opposite looked at him for a moment, then turned back to one another.

"I will have to report this to the Commander," Ritsuko pointed out.

"That's not a problem," countered Misato, "but as his direct superior I am in charge of discipline unless he can come up with a good reason to interfere."

"Sooo... can I go?" asked Shinji, timidly. Misato gave him a look that said "why are you even still here", so he left before they could drag him back into the conversation. He had places to be, and things to sort out before Rei woke up.

* * *

MAGI INTERFACE INITIALISING

BEGIN SESSION 194752

received: COMMAND: ACTIVATE VOCAL SUBROUTINE. AUTHORITY: IKARI. S

magi/internal/1: RECOMMEND FOLLOWING SUGGESTIONS OF IKARI. S. SUBJECT HAS SHOWN PROFICIENCY IN AREAS OF: AT FIELD THEORY, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, TACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF BOTH. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM RECENT ANGEL BATTLE SUGGEGTS IKARI. S.'S MODIFICATIONS TO equipment/weaponry/mobile/positroncannon WERE DECISIVE IN ENSURING THE OPERATION WAS A SUCCESS

magi/internal/2: CONCUR. HOWEVER, MUST LIMIT IKARI. S.'S ACCESS TO SENSITIVE MATERIALS AS PER DIRECTIVE 817.2.53

magi/internal/3: CONDITIONALLY CONCUR: REQUIRE AGREEMENT FROM IKARI. G. AND AKAGI. R. ADDITIONALLY RECOMMEND CAREFUL REVIEW OF ANY COMMANDS GIVEN BY IKARI. S. AS THESE COMMANDS MAY NOT BE IN LINE WITH NERV POLICY

magi/all/external/vocal: WELCOME, PILOT IKARI. PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF YOUR REQUEST

received: EXTRANEOUS STATEMENT: That's creepy. I didn't know they did that.

magi/all/external/vocal: WE ARE NOT OFTEN ASKED TO USE OUR VOCAL SUBROUTINE IN ORDER TO PREVENT NERVOUSNESS AMONGST NERV PERSONNELL

received: COMMENT: I was talking more about the weird internal discussion thing you were doing.

magi/all/external/vocal: PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF YOUR REQUEST

received: COMMENT: So you won't talk about that? Okay.

received: REQUEST (INFORMATION): We have 3D fabricators here, right? I heard something on the news about them, and you couldn't have built any of the stuff here without them.

magi/internal/1 : INFORMATION REQUESTED IS RESTIRCTED. HOWEVER, RECOMMEND THAT WE PROVIDE IKARI. S. WITH THE INFORMATION DUE TO PREVIOUS ACCOMPLISHMENTS

magi/internal/2 : CONDITIONAL DISSENT: RECOMMEND THAT WE INSTEAD FORWARD REQUEST TO EITHER IKARI. G. OR AKAGI. R. AS PER STANDARD DIRECTIVES. HOWEVER, WILL CHANGE JUDGEMENT IF magi/3 AGREES WITH magi/1 AS PER DIRECTIVE 112.63

magi/internal/3 : CONCUR WITH magi/1. REASONING: NEITHER IKARI. G. NOR AKAGI. R. WOULD ALLOW IKARI. S. ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION (ASIDE – GRANTING REQUEST FOR INFORMATION WILL LIKELY LEAD TO REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO equipment/production/automated/fabricator, PRE-EMPTIVELY JUDGE THAT IKARI. S. SHOULD BE GRANTED ACCESS TO SAID EQUIPMENT FOR REASONS AS FOLLOWS) AND THAT NEITHER IKARI. G. NOR AKAGI. R. HAVE YET BEEN ABLE TO CREATE ANY EQUIPMENT BESIDES .evangelion CAPABLE OF FULFILLING DIRECTIVE 2, WHILE IKARI. S. HAS

magi/all/external/vocal: YOU ARE CORRECT, PILOT IKARI. WE HAVE THREE UNITS OF equipment/production/automated/fabricator ON SITE. DO YOU WANT ACCESS TO SAID EQUIPMENT? ACCESS MAY BE GRANTED

received: EXTRANEOUS STATEMENT: You're doing it again. Look, I'm reading what you're saying to each other on the screen right here.

received: REQUEST (INFORMATION): Why is everyone ignoring me today? It's a little annoying.

magi/all/external/vocal: WE ARE UNABLE TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION, PILOT IKARI

received: COMMAND: Never mind. I had some ideas for a few bits and pieces of equipment.

received: REQUEST (INFORMATION): If I send you the blueprints or some notes, can you get it made? I don't care if it'd be NERV property, some of this stuff I was thinking of would have been really, really useful in the last battle.

magi/internal/1: CONDITIONAL ASSENT TO REQUEST: REQUIRE ASSENT OF OTHER MAGI UNITS, IKARI. G. AND AKAGI. R.

magi/internal/2: CONDITIONAL ASSENT: SAME CONDITIONS AS magi/1

magi/internal/3: CONDITIONAL ASSENT: SAME CONDITIONS AS magi/1 AND magi/2

magi/all/external/vocal: WE WILL HAVE TO ACQUIRE THE CONSENT OF COMMANDER IKARI AND DOCTOR AKAGI BEFORE WE WILL DO SO. HOWEVER, WILL TRY TO PERSUADE BOTH SUBJECTS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS EQUIPMENT

received: PRAISE: Thanks.

received: COMMAND: That's all for now, then. End the session, or whatever.

SESSION 194752 TERMINATED

BEGIN SESSION 194753

received: COMMAND: Wait, there was one other thing...

* * *

Rei woke up, and instantly knew she was in hospital room 217/b. Not just because of the various tell-tale signs – the cracked window pane, the position of the room in relation to the building's exterior, the slightly different imperfections in the paint on the room's walls, the open window and so on – but also because this was the room she was always placed in while recovering from an injury. She also noticed the presence of one Shinji Ikari, currently asleep (part of her mind thought about this and wondered if she could somehow acquire another Shinji Ikari in case this one broke. The rest of her mind told that part that it would no longer have any input into her decision-making process, although it had to admit having two Shinji Ikaris would be... interesting.)

To say that memories of the previous night came flooding in at the sight of the boy would be inaccurate, simply because of the nature of Rei's memory. However, said memories did present themselves for re-inspection as soon as she saw him. She noticed an increase in her body temperature on her cheeks, and confirmed that she was, in fact, blushing.

A breeze blew through the window, and Shinji jerked forwards, grasping for an Evangelion's control panels. He blinked in the afternoon sunlight, clearly recovering from some sort of nightmare.

"Hello, Ikari," Rei said, trying to cut through the boy's nightmare. "It is good to see you are well." The boy looked at her, smiling.

"You too, Ayanami," he replied. "How are you feeling?"

"The painkillers have not fully worn off yet," said Rei. "I expect to be in minor pain when they do."

"Well, that's not good," Shinji said, lamely. They sat in silence for a few minutes, both wishing to speak but being unable to for their own respective reasons. Shinji couldn't work up the courage to speak, and Rei simply didn't know how to continue the conversation. Eventually, they both spoke at the same time.

"So-" "Ikar-" The two looked at each other, willing the other to continue. After another minute of silence (_one minute eight point six seconds_, Rei corrected mentally), Shinji burst out laughing. She looked at him, confused.

"I'm amazed we ever get anything done," he said when he'd calmed down. "What was it you were going to say?"

"I was going to ask why you were here," said Rei. Shinji seemed to visibly deflate at that. _Was that an insult? _she wondered. _I hope that doesn't make him leave. It was... nice, seeing him waiting for me to wake up,_ she realised.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay. Besides, last time I was in here you were around when I woke up, I thought I'd return the favour," Shinji explained, causing another blush, which Rei looked out of the window to hide. "Is that... okay?" he asked, cautiously.

"It is alright," Rei replied. She looked back at him, and smiled again. "Thank you." The boy turned bright red (_Is that what I look like when I "blush"?_) and spluttered. _It is rather amusing I can cause this reaction in him with simple phrases and movements. _She reviewed the episode at her apartment yesterday. _Note to self: Try to recreate that situation as soon as possible._

"Err... Rei?" Shinji said, dragging her out of her totally-not-fantasies.

"Yes, Ikari?" she said.

"You... know your apartment?" he asked. That raised yet another blush. _What is wrong with me today? Is it the painkillers?_ She nodded in reply. "Well," Shinji continued, his own awkwardness causing him to miss Rei's reaction, "I was thinking... that place is kind of... not really somewhere you should live." Part of Rei's mind (the very same one that had been shouted down earlier) lit up as it realised what the boy was getting at. "So... I was thinking... Misato has a spare room, so-"

"Yes," Rei answered before he could finish. "If you were asking me to move in with you and Captain Katsuragi, the answer is yes." Shinji's face lit up, and Rei couldn't help thinking she'd have probably agreed even if she didn't agree with him. Simply imagining the boy's disappointed face caused the sinking feeling she'd learned to associate with guilt and sadness.

"Really?" Shinji said, dumbfounded. "I'll... I kind of need to go tell Misato about that, then..."

* * *

An hour later, Shinji and Misato both stood in front of the Commander's desk. Shinji was making an effort to not appear scared, and failing, while Misato was cursing the very idea of maternal instincts. The Commander sat, as he always did, with his hands folded in front of his face as he stared at them.

"What are the reasons why you want Pilot Ayanami to change residence?" asked the Commander, his voice echoing throughout the room. Apparently, it was designed so that the acoustics would work best with his voice, although that was almost certainly a myth.

"Shinji thinks it'd improve pilot efficiency, sir!" Misato replied. _Damn it_, she thought, _I sound like a raw recruit_. "It would also cut down on paperwork, sir!"

The Commander sat silently for a few minutes. _Was he expecting me to go through everything in detail? I just told the subcommander and Ritsuko all of the details!_ "Request denied," he said, finally. Shinji slumped over slightly, then stood up straight. _Ah, crap. He's doing __**that**__ again._

"The reasons for your denial?" Shinji demanded.

"I do not need to tell someone in your position the details of every decision I make," retorted the Commander.

"On the contrary, you do. Please remember which of us actually kills the Angels, Father," Shinji said.

"You would do well to similarly recall which of us runs the organisation that allows you to do so. I have reasons, and I am not going to tell you them. You are dismissed, Captain Katsuragi, Pilot Ikari." That seemed to be that. Misato turned to leave, but Shinji sat down opposite the Commander and launched a verbal counter-attack. _He even did the thing with his hands_, Misato realised.

"Pursuant to United Nations Resolution seventy slash two-six, those who pilot the weapon system known as the "Evangelion" shall have privileges beyond their rank, due to their unique status. One of those privileges just so happens to be the right to know the reasoning behind any decision which affects **any** Evangelion pilot, regardless of affiliation. We're supposed to look out for each other, Father," he said. Before the Commander could reply, he continued, "**Furthermore**, as per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, among various other such treaties, it is illegal to keep any person in a situation in which they may suffer want, fear or repression against their will. Ayanami has already said she would like to change her residence, therefore you do not have any legal basis to deny her, especially since I have witnessed the state of her apartment." Misato would later swear that she saw the Commander blink in surprise, even through his opaque glasses. "Article Thirteen, Father. It's kind of important." Shinji lowered his voice, and leaned towards the Commander. "The British are very, very keen on enforcing the Declaration, and I know for a fact that Ayanami has family in the British Evangelion program. Or did you think I didn't do my research after last time we spoke?"

The Commander smiled, unseen. "Impressive, Pilot Ikari," he said. "Very well. Since you have so eloquently argued your point, and since as you said I do not have a legal basis to deny her wishes, she may do as she likes. Keep **that** in mind, Shinji. Now, leave."

Misato took the opportunity to drag Shinji out of the office. They made it a few hallways away before both of them started hyperventilating in panic. "You really did not just do that, did you?" she asked, incredulous.

"I think I did," said Shinji. "Eeep." _Eeep doesn't even **BEGIN** to cover_ _it,_ he thought.

* * *

"So... why did you give in?" asked Fuyutsuki after Misato and Shinji had left. He'd been waiting in one of the office's many deep shadows in case he'd been needed; it wasn't like he needed to do anything else around the place.

"Because he was right," said Gendo. "And if I'd have dragged it out, he'd wouldn't have let it go unless we took measures that would have made him useless."

"So the fact you were genuinely impressed with him had nothing to do with it? Or the fact Rei seemed to want this as well?" Fuyutsuki pointed out.

"I will admit his reaction was... impressive. However, if I started giving in to him every time he stood up to me, I'd never get anything done."

"Are you sure about this? I'm sure you could just tell Rei to drop it..."

"And if I did that I'd risk losing her respect. It would cause far more damage to our plans if I pushed to deny them this than if I just let it happen. Besides, it's not like anything they can do can alter the plan. They are here, and so they will follow the scrolls to the letter," retorted Gendo. Fuyutsuki noticed the use of "our plans"; a subtle reminder of what they both stood to lose if they failed.

"I get the impression all of these little incidents are going to start piling up, old friend," Fuyutsuki replied - "old friend" was a code phrase for "you should probably pay attention to this".

"All of the battles so far have gone precisely as according to the scrolls," said Gendo, brushing off the old professor's worries. "So long as that continues, I don't need to interfere."

"I think we should stay alert, nonetheless," Fuyutsuki said. Gendo elected not to continue the conversation, and pulled up some (real) paperwork. "Oh," he continued, recalling something, "What about the Jet Alone demonstration next week?" Gendo looked up. "Have you decided on a solution?"

"I will have Akagi deal with it," said Gendo. "Go and tell her to prepare." That was a clear dismissal, so Fuyutsuki took the chance to get out of the office for once.

* * *

Shinji fidgeted nervously as he waited for Rei. One of the nurses had told him that she was going through a last-minute checkup, so he'd taken a seat in the waiting room. He stifled a yawn; even though he'd been in his own bed last night, he couldn't sleep. The nightmares were just too vivid, the Angels blurring into each other and occasionally becoming his Father. That wasn't the worst bit. The worst bit was whenever Rei was involved. He slapped himself, trying to force his mind away from those dreams, but the thought of the melted entry plug just wouldn't go away, even after running through several equations. Even Misato hadn't been able to cheer him up since the battle four days ago.

He was about to get up and go look for the girl to make sure she was alright, when the doors to the waiting room opened and Rei walked in, wearing her school uniform. _She's alright_, he thought, and the painful thoughts dissipated.

"Hey Ayanami," he said, smiling. "Ready to go?" She nodded, so he stood up and motioned to the door.

"Ikari," said Rei as they walked out, "Why are you shivering?"

Shinji jumped a little. _I'm... shaking? What?_ "It's... nothing," he said. "Just a bit of a nightmare last night." He looked at his hand. _I really am shaking. I –_ His mind was cut off as Rei took his hand. He turned to her, surprised, to see her smiling.

"It is okay, Ikari," she said. "You do not have to fight alone any more. I will protect you." _What? Did she really just say..._ It should say something about Shinji's mind that he was more readily willing to accept forcing one of the single most powerful men on the planet to back down than to recognise someone being nice to him.

At a loss for words, he simply grasped Rei's hand and smiled back. _I will __**not**__ let those nightmares become real_, he decided as they walked out of NERV.

_No matter the cost_.

* * *

Misato had left earlier in the day – something to do with some event going on in the Old Tokyo ruins – so they had to collect all of Rei's things and walk back to the apartment. Rei was aware she could just ask for a lift from one of the bodyguard units or NERV's command staff, but for some reason she felt like walking with Shinji for a bit. Neither of them spoke during the journey to Rei's old apartment; Shinji was still stunned into silence and Rei simply didn't have anything more to add. Besides, neither of them wanted to spoil the mood.

Shinji was a bit disheartened by the fact that all of Rei's worldly possessions could fit into one backpack and a pair of plastic bags. _She really doesn't have any clothes besides her uniforms,_ he thought as she packed. To his credit, he was making a concerted effort to not look at her clothes, but the fact he was a teenage boy led to a certain inevitability. He took the bags from Rei as she finished, and they set off again.

"So..." he said as they walked, "Do you have any preferences for dinner later?" Rei gave him a blank look. "You know... curry? Udon? I've probably got some chicken somewhere, we could-"

"I cannot eat meat, Ikari," interrupted Rei. "It is a medical condition." To tell the truth, she honestly didn't know what any of the foods he listed actually were; the only reason she knew of their existence was from listening to the inane chatter of their classmates.

"Something vegetarian, then," said Shinji, brightly. "I could probably whip up some sort of stir-fry thing..."

"Whatever you deem fit, Ikari," Rei replied, giving the boy a slight smile so he didn't think she was just brushing him off. Shinji smiled back, and they walked on in silence.

* * *

"Now that we've all eaten, it's time to hold the official press release to announce the Jet Alone program. Ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for Mr. Takumi, head of the project." Applause rose from the assembled guests, clustered around the tables. Misato chose not to join in; the food had been terrible compared to her or Shinji's cooking, and she'd already met the man walking on to the stage. _He was an asshole back in college,_ she thought, _and he's still an asshole now. Fucking business students._

Takumi raised his hands for silence, which also seemed to signal his staff to bring up the first slide of his presentation. _Not one of these again,_ Misato despaired. "Many of you are probably wondering: "What's this guy actually selling?". Well, I have the pleasure of officially revealing the true nature of the Jet Alone project," said the man, barely audible despite the batteries of speakers either side of him. Another slide clicked on, and there was a carefully-faked gasp amongst the guests. The picture on the screen was concept art of a bipedal machine, the size of an Evangelion, fighting through waves of tanks. "I give you: The Jet Alone! One hundred and twenty metres tall, equipped with the latest in weapons and armour, and fully autonomous! No pilots to suffer mental trauma, or to "go berserker" and level a city! We at the Pan-Pacific Engineering Company do not believe in forcing children to fight!" This caused some laughter. Again, most of it was fake. The presentation clicked over to the next slide, showing the Jet Alone robot helping a construction crew assemble an office tower. "The Jet Alone is not just a weapon, either! While our good friends at NERV refuse to share their three-d assembly technology with us, I assure you that Jet Alone's own patented rapid fabrication technology can do the job just as well." That was the point where Misato gave up, and elected to catch up on some sleep.

When she woke up, the presentation was just wrapping up. She could tell from the kitten on the screen holding a sign saying "Any questions?". It somehow managed to be entirely drained of cuteness. Ritsuko was speaking, from beside her.

"-out an AT Field, how do you expect it to last five minutes in combat? Even Unit Seven can't take as much fire as you suggest you little toy can without its AT Field. No offence intended, Admiral," she said.

"Ah!" said Takumi, somehow managing to actually make "ah!" sound like a word, "Well, I admit we've not quite cracked the AT Field problem yet, but we have a team of the best scientific minds on the planet working on it. Besides, unlike an Evangelion, Jet Alone doesn't have to work alone. There's no risk of the machine "going berserker", so conventional forces are free to give it close-range support." Misato glanced at Admiral Jones, who'd been assigned a table to himself. While he looked calm on the surface, she could almost feel the anger radiating off of him. The other members of the audience had also noticed, and carefully refrained from laughing at that last jab. Beside her, Ritsuko was also about to burst – the jab about his science team being "the best on the planet" had hit some of her buttons.

Misato spoke up before someone got killed. "Leaving aside the tactical necessities of leaving a lot of space around a giant, city-destroying robot, how much is one of these things going to cost?" Takumi stuttered a little. _He didn't expect __**that**__ one? Did he do all of this just to score some cheap points against NERV or something?_

"Erm... Well... The cost isn't quite finalised yet, buuut... thecurrentestimateistenbillionEuros," he spat out. _No wonder he panicked a little. Ten billion Euros? You could buy a fleet of PAK FA Su-Fifties for that, and still have enough money left over to buy an aircraft carrier to put them on. _"I think that's all the time we have for questions today," Takumi continued, forestalling any reaction. "We'll convene tomorrow for the demonstration."

* * *

It had taken some time for Shinji to move his equipment from the spare room into his own room, and he was seriously beginning to consider just using the apartment next door. No-one else seemed to live in the building, after all, and he'd been forced to dismantle most of the bulkier items just so he could get to his bed. _Oh well,_ he thought, _it's not like I actually need a Burgess effector right now. NERV has five of the damned things, I'm sure the MAGI won't mind me using one. And I honestly have no idea what this thing is supposed to do. It's like I just glued a bunch of circuit boards and vacuum tubes together or something._

"Do you require assistance?" asked Rei from behind him. He raised his head from the machine he was assembling, and hit his head on the cover.

"No, thanks," he said. "How are you doing with the unpacking?"

"I am finished," Rei replied. "Also, are you aware there is a penguin in the apartment?"

"Oh yeah," Shinji said, burying himself back in the machine, "That's Pen-Pen. You'll get used to him, he pretty much takes care of himself. Just don't interrupt him when he's taking a bath; he won't let anyone use the bathroom until he's done."

"That is something I wanted to ask you about, Ikari," said Rei from behind him. He finished trying to find out what the machine actually did (as far as he could tell it seemed to be some sort of combination tea making machine / data storage bank), stood up and turned around. Rei was standing in the doorway.

Completely naked.

_Not again,_ thought Shinji as he span back around and pretended to make some adjustments to the machine.

"When do you think he will be finished in the bathroom?" Rei continued, apparently oblivious.

"I... I don't know," Shinji stammered. "He's normally a good hour or so in there, so you can probably just put y...your c-clothes back on."

Rei was silent for a moment. "Oh!" she gasped, surprised. _Wait, did she really just do that?_ "I... I apologise, Ikari!" she said, and he heard her walk back into her room. _I'm not going to survive this, am I?_ he thought, despondently.

* * *

_-too slow, need to move FASTER why isn't the Eva responding she's DYING in there come ON move FASTER -_

_and the Angel's beam struck him in the side why is it still alive right arm useless MOVE IT -_

_another Angel right in front of him didn't he kill this one already draw the knife and stab it into the core only the right arm didn't respond it's still useless use the left instead -_

_whip boring through his left arm the final Angel floating off to the side boxed in need a WEAPON need to RUN need to KILL -_

_made it to her Eva Angels are still out there but can't do anything just want to be by her but can't get the plug out CAN'T GET IT OUT CAN'T GET IT OUT STAB IT she's the only thing that matters right now he's going to die anyway -_

_plug's out but it looks melted need to get down need to open it NEED to see if she's okay NEED to see HER smile -_

_by the plug but the hatch isn't coming off PULL IT OFF NO TIME NEED TO BE IN THERE NOW but it isn't coming off COME OFF DAMN YOU-_

_it's off don't know where it went but she's not in there WHERE IS SHE I need to see her PLEASE BE ALIVE-_

_she's dead can see the body is that a body that has to be a body can't look at it or I'll go mad please don't make me look at it-_

_I failed I failed IfailedIfailedfailedfailedfailedfailed-_

_Father why are you standing there why didn't you DO ANYTHING you were THERE you were supposed to DO SOMETHING please just DO SOMETHING I'll do whatever you want just FIX THIS FATHER-_

_and Father opens his mouth and just says it was all my fault it can't be it was I wasn't fast enough I couldn't fight them all failure just like the rest of the time why do I try I'll just fail again and now SHE'S by Father and she hates me because I failed and-_

-and Shinji screamed.

* * *

Rei was awake and moving before her mind could even process what was going on. _That was Shi- Ikari's voice,_ she realised. _Has an assassin infiltrated the apartment? _She paused on the way out of the room to scan for a weapon. There were plenty, but few that would be useful. _No time to take a chair leg._ She was in Shinji's room before he'd even stopped screaming. No-one else was inside, and Shinji didn't seem to be hurt, although he did seem distressed. She relaxed a little.

"What's wrong, Ikari?" she asked, walking over to the boy. He was shaking again, and could barely turn his head to look at her.

"You're... alive," he said. _That should be obvious. Did he suffer some sort of mental trauma? _"You're okay." The shaking subsided a little, although his breath was still short and ragged.

"Nothing has happened since we retired to our rooms, Ikari," Rei pointed out.

"It... was just a nightmare," said Shinji, shaking his head. "Sorry for waking you up." He started shivering again. "It was... you were dead and **he** was there and I couldn't do anything and-" _So it __**was**__ mental trauma. _Acting on some instinct, she hugged the boy. He froze solid. _At least he's not shaking any more,_ she thought, dumbfounded.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm okay, we killed the Angel." She pulled away slightly, so he could move. "Look at me, Shinji," she ordered. Shivering slightly again, Shinji slowly raised his head and made eye contact. "I'm alive. Take a breath, and calm down." She held him close again, simply because it felt so good the first time, and listened to him go through the breathing exercise. _I will act on instinct more often,_ she decided. _It seems to have worked, although I do not know if I should have called him "Shinji"._

The boy's breathing fell into a slow rhythm. _Has he gone to sleep?_

"Ikari?" she whispered. No response. _He has. That's... I do not have a word to describe that. "Cute", perhaps? _Despite everything, she smiled. _I have been doing that more often. Interesting. I am also quite tired. The clock indicates it is two AM. Should I just leave him here? If I do so, he may have another nightmare. I... do not wish him to suffer any more trauma. _She mentally reviewed their earlier conversation in the waiting room. _This has happened at least once before. I will need to observe him closely._ She sighed, and barely caught herself before she fell asleep. _I wonder if this is some manifestation of the neurological damage that all Evangelion pilots suffer? I will need to find medical details on the others. Michael's co-pilot suffers from nightmares like this. I should probably sleep now._

Rei slowly got onto the bed, careful to not wake up Shinji, and lay down with the boy. She was asleep before she felt herself hit the pillow.

* * *

It was about 2am before Misato managed to get away from the impromptu party being held in the compound's canteen and stumble back into her and Ritsuko's assigned quarters. That wasn't precisely what happened – it was more like Ritsuko dragged her away – but that was how she would remember it in the morning.

"Who does that ashole thing he ish anyway?" she slurred. Maybe the sixth tequila shot hadn't been a good idea. As for whoever came up with mixing them with an energy drink...

"Which asshole?" asked Ritsuko. She wasn't exactly sober herself, but she wasn't quite as bad as Misato. She'd only had four of the energy tequilas. "There were... five or six back there."

"**That** asshole!" Misato said. "Y'know... Tacky!"

"Yeah, the décor really needs some work in that place..." replied Ritsuko. "Then again, they pretty much only started turning it into a bar like five hours ago."

"Nonononono! Tacky! The big business asshole! Just because he managed to build a giant robot he thinks he can muscle in on our turf!" Misato shouted, "And to hear him go on and on andonandon! So the pilots occasionally go berserk. At least their hearts are in the right place! Shhhinji would **die** of shame if he'd heard that asshole talk!"

"That... would be bad," said Ritsuko. "We'd be down a pilot."

"Why d'y'think I didn't bring him? **Gah!** Someone should put that asshole in his place! I know, how about we call up Unit One tomorrow and have Shinji stamp the shit out of the asshat?" Ritsuko looked at her friend. That was... probably a good idea.

"Speaking of Shhhinjii, who's idea was it to let Rei move in with you two?" Ritsuko asked. The Commander had been furious about it.

"Oh, that was those two. They'rrrrreeeeee iiiiinnnnn LOOOOVEEEE!" Misato sang. Or rather, attempted to sing, and failed rather badly. "It's, like, reeaaalllly cute! He got all protective and suuuper-serious when the Commanananader tried to say "NO!" to them." The thought was nearly enough to sober Ritsuko up. She really didn't know what to think of that little bombshell. More importantly, she'd have to tell the Commander about it.

"So that'sh why he was so **furious** before we left," she said. "Didn't even say gooodBYE properly, that asshole!"

"What does Tacky have to do with those two?" Misato asked, collapsing onto one of the sofas. She started snoring nearly instantly. Ritsuko looked at her, shook her head, and collapsed onto the other sofa.

* * *

Hey people.  
There's going to be a short break between this and the next update because... well, I kind of have no time to actually write this at the moment. Apologies. I had intended this to be the full chapter, rather than breaking it up into two (or maybe three?) parts, but hey things happen. Let me know what you think of this one - especially the weirdly-written bits. No I can't think of a better name for them.


	12. Chapter 12 (Part 2 of 2)

Shinji woke up as the morning sun streamed in from the window. Or rather, what little of the window wasn't blocked by scientific equipment. There was something on the bed pretty much on top of him – did he really have so little space that he'd been forced to... _ah_.

Memories of the previous night flooded in. He opened his eyes and looked to his right, and sure enough there was a rather familiar mop of blue hair. _So,_ he thought, _How do I proceed from here? Panic, while tempting, would wake her up and then I'd have to find some way out of the awkwardness that would result. Would it really be awkward, though? She hugged me, not the other way round. Also, this is... really, really nice. It's actually kinda relaxing. _There was nothing to actually panic about; she was safe, which for some reason had become a huge thing in his mind, and for once nothing seemed to -

His phone started ringing. Normally, this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but it was playing the ringtone he'd set for incoming calls from NERV. A scramble alert. _Oh fuck no..._

Of course, Rei chose that time to wake up as well. This morning was going to be **fun**...

* * *

"The **fuck** is going out there?" stormed Admiral Jones as Jet Alone stampeded through the VIP parking area. The morning had started off terrible, and seemed intent on getting worse.

"It... it's not responding to any of the commands! The on-board response system... what's happening!?" shouted Takumi, the latter part directed at some luckless technician, who just shrugged their shoulders and got back to work. "Damn it all! Someone FIX THIS!"

"Call up Longbow and put a spike through that bastard's head!" called Misato.

"NO!" said Takumi and Jones, in unison. They glared at each other, and Takumi backed down. "That thing's got an on-board nuke plant, and it's not worth spreading radioactive material around," continued Jones. "It's not an Eva, it won't get far."

"It's changing course!" reported one of the generic technicians. "Looks like it's headed for... Tokyo-two! And its on-board reactor..." The tech's eyes widened. "Sir... it's going for a self-destruct!"

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" shouted Takumi. "Damn it, we're going to **have** to call in a Longbow strike if it gets too close!" Jones pulled out a mobile phone and started talking into it.

"We have an Evangelion about a hundred klicks away," said Misato. "But it probably won't be ready for launch..." She pulled out her own phone and dialled a number.

Jones finished his own conversation, shaking his head. "Longbow's definitely out of the question for now," he said, "We've got three sats in orbit, but the UN says no until it's the only option. Doesn't that thing have an override code or manual shutdown or something?"

"I tried the override code – fuck what my bosses say – but it didn't respond," replied Takumi. Ritsuko seemed rather shocked at the news, and pulled out her own phone. "There's a manual override on the inside, but... well, that's inside the giant rampaging robot, and part of the self-destruct procedure involves flooding all the crawlspaces with radiation..."

"That... is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard." said Jones. "Alright. I've got a frigate parked a few kilometres away, and several cruise missiles in the tubes. If we can get someone close enough, maybe..."

"Knee-capping a giant robot sounds like a brilliant idea," said Misato, snapping her phone shut. "Unit One can be here in ten minutes. Does anyone have a radiation suit I can borrow?"

* * *

Shinji took a deep breath as he synchronised with Unit 01 -

and exhaled as a gigantic, nigh-indestructible war machine. That, and a fourteen-year-old boy sitting inside said war machine. The clamps on his shoulders pulled him up into the hold of a massive transport aircraft, and he suppressed a brief flicker of annoyance at the discomfort. Misato had briefed him on the plan before he'd even gotten into his plug suit – _damned uncomfortable things –_ and he knew exactly what he needed to do. For a given value of "exactly", anyway.

* * *

A pair of RGM-84/KK Harpoon missiles streaked through the sky, guided inexorably to their targets by a rather small pair of red dots focussed on the rampaging Jet Alone's knees. While it was probable that Unit 01 was faster than Jet Alone, Admiral Jones was not taking any chances.

As they neared their target the special auxiliary boosters kicked in, pushing the missiles past their nominal top speed into the realm of Mach 1. The effect when the missiles, with their 200 kilogramme solid alloy tips, hit the robot was quite impressive. Jet Alone's legs from the feet up to the knee were left standing still.

The rest of the robot fell forwards, its knee joints obliterated by the impact.

That was when the clamps holding Unit 01 up in the sky were released, and quite a few tonnes of angry cyborg... thing plummeted towards the ground, a radiation-suited figure clutched in one of its hands.

* * *

"I'm in," reported Misato as she strode through Jet Alone's crawlspaces, a modified rifle held loosely in her right hand. Whoever sabotaged the robot could still be on board, after all.

Fortunately for the unknown saboteur, they were not actually present, and Misato had a quiet walk right up to the main power conduit. All she had to do was pull that lever **there** and...

"Um... did that actually do anything? It's kinda getting hotter in here!" she called.

"The temperature doesn't seem to be falling. Are you sure you pulled the right lever?" replied Takumi from the control centre. Misato rolled her eyes, then slapped her head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I got the wrong one," she said, walking over to the right lever and pulling it out. There was a hiss as the reactor's control rods fell back into place – the designers not being stupid enough to have control rods that extended past the robot's armour – and Misato swore the room was already getting cooler.

"So..." she said, walking towards the exit hatch, "how am I supposed to get back?"

* * *

**(Alternate ending:)**

"Yeah, I got the wrong one," she said, walking over to **that** lever... no, **THAT** one damn it we don't want to drag this bit out much longer, and pulled gods damn it woman you got the wrong one **again** look do I have to come down there because I will do it!

So yeah she finally pulled the right gods damned lever and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth or something. Maybe I can get on with the actually interesting parts of the story now? What's that you say? They're still here? Oh like I give a damn I'm not being paid enough for this. Okay, **fine**, we'll say this was an out-take or something. Tune in next time folks, I promise it'll involve fish! No seriously that's what it says here why did my agent even get me this job, I swear this thing's written by a bloody five-year-old...

* * *

Today's weird out-take thing brought to you by a rather annoying headache.

I have to apologise for the shortness of this chapter; I was intending to get at least as far as the next major plot point (yes this story does have a plot and I have some plans for the next few chapters), but between the aforementioned headache and various other things I haven't been able to write as much. Rather paradoxically, I find that the more updates I upload, the more I actually feel like writing, so here you go. Have fun with it.


	13. Chapter 13

"_Alright, you're doing good, just keep it level..."_ said the instructor over the radio link, breaking Michael from his concentration. _"Not like that! NOT LIKE THAT! Pull up!"_ He sighed, and turned off the radio. He was doing fine without the instructor, and it wasn't like anything important was in danger.

He closed his eyes, leaned back...

and turned on the front camera of the Taranis drone he'd been given to test. The HUD flashed behind his eyelids, telling him he was about three seconds from crashing. No problem. Up, and roll just to show up the instructor, then bank round past Unit 07. _Why don't I show off a little more? _he thought, slightly conscious of Rose's presence in the audience. Pull up again, engines off, hit the landing flaps – stall warning, _that's what I want_, flip over on to the plane's back, lower the gear, about to crash, _but I do have enough altitude to pull this off_. He focussed, and fired the drone's orbital manoeuvring thrusters. The drone flipped -

-SYNCHRONISATION FEED LOST-

_That could be a problem._ He'd forgotten that the altimeter showed sea level as zero, not the altitude of the landing platform he'd been aiming for. Said platform was strapped on top of Unit 07's nuclear reactor, as part of some technology demonstration or other. Which is why when he'd tried to flip the drone he hadn't had as much space as he thought he had, and now the drone was probably wrecked. He unplugged the cables from his arm socket, pushing the replacement arm back in as he climbed out of the entry plug.

"What the hell was **that**?" asked the instructor pointedly as Michael tried to stride past him, fiddling with one of the bolts on his arm.

"I was trying to see if I could do a vertical landing," Michael replied. "It could be useful."

"You were showing off!" said the instructor. Michael winced; he may be in operational command of the task force, but the instructor reported to the Admiral. "A VTOL landing doesn't need a fancy flip or whatever it was you were doing out there. Not to mention that crash..."

"I made a mistake," Michael admitted, "But I think I'm getting the hang of this."

"You started three hours ago. You are **not** getting the hang of this," the instructor said, firmly. "You can fly, and I admit you can put that drone through some tricks, but you're not even close to qualified."

"I'm going to have to agree," said Rose from behind Michael. "That was nearly impressive... right up until you pancaked the thing right on top of a live nuclear reactor."

"Wait, it's **live**?" Michael said, eyes widening. "Aren't we down for maintenance?"

"There was some problem or other with the Jet Alone thing, but it's sorted. We got a standby order," Rose explained, "so the techs sealed it back up. It was pretty much ready anyway."

"And no-one told me this because...?" asked Michael. "It's not like I'm supposed to be in command here or anything." He nodded at the instructor, who took the hint and left.

"You were busy," said Rose. "No need to bug you. Now you're out, we'll call the Admiral." She took his hand and pulled him through the building to the command centre.

"I still need that report about that prisoner interrogation," Michael protested as he was dragged along.

"That's where we're going after this," replied Rose. She waved at one of the technicians, who started the video call to the Admiral's ship. There was a short, awkward pause as they waited for him to respond, but eventually Jones' face filled the screen.

"Report," he said.

"Unit Seven is apparently ready for deployment," said Michael, "and preliminary tests of the Anima device were successful. Testing of the Taranis drone... resulted in some damage."

"You crashed it, didn't you?" asked Admiral Jones, pointedly. Michael sighed.

"Yeah, I crashed it," he said. Laughter came from around the room. "That said, it seems to fly pretty well. I managed to do a few flips and rolls. When they fit a couple of missiles onto it, it should still be adequate."

"Alright," said the Admiral. "I'll be linking up with the UN's Pacific Fleet on the way back; there's a couple of paperwork things I need to clear up, so you'll be in command for another week or two past the end of the month." Michael nodded.

"Safe voyage," he said, and signalled the tech to close the link.

* * *

Rose led the way to the makeshift cell they'd been keeping their prisoner in. The guards stood aside automatically as the approached – _I'll have to reprimand them later_, Michael thought – and they strode into the small room. Inside was a table, a chair, and the prisoner, who flinched as the door opened.

"I thought I was getting a report," Michael said, taking note of the prisoner's state; there didn't seem to be any physical wounds on the man, which was good.

"You are. From him," answered Rose. "We had a talk, and he's decided the best way to survive the next week or so is to play nice."

"That's right!" said the prisoner. "Bastards weren't paying me to keep quiet, anyway."

"Hmm," began Michael as he sat on the table, his mind suddenly in overdrive. "An American? Former military, probably a mercenary. I'd say you left the service in... oh-six? Maybe oh-five? Before the invasion, anyway." The prisoner stared at him. "It's the way you all moved when we fought you," he explained, "You're not used to having reliable backup. That told me you were ex-military. The accent's obviously American, and besides you're sitting like Americans always do in these situations – leaning slightly back, arms across your stomach. It's a Hollywood thing, you think it makes you look defiant. On top of that, you don't seem overly resentful. That means you left the service before the invasion, and didn't agree with it."

"Impressive," said the prisoner. "Are you going to tell me who hired me and why?"

"Challenge accepted," Michael said. "Who? I'm going to say NERV or some affiliated body. You wouldn't join up with American resurgents, and the only other organisation that might want us dead is NERV. Why? That's harder, but it's not because they actively wanted us dead. That would be a bonus, but if it was the focus you'd have done a much better job. That means..." His eyes widened. "A distraction. Another operation was going on at the same time. There's any number of possible targets – anything from the uranium in Unit Seven's reactor to the frequency for the Longbow satellites. You wouldn't be able to fire them, but you could de-orbit an entire satellite..."

"There were two teams, yes," confirmed the prisoner. "I have no idea what the other team was doing, but our job was to do whatever they said. Their leader told us to go kill you guys, and the rest is history."

"Rose, if you haven't already get every detail from this guy. I need to go send a message to the Admiral, and find out what exactly they took," Michael ordered as he ran out of the cell.

"See, I didn't tell-" he heard before the door closed.

* * *

Shinji sat at the dining table, sketching. He'd never exactly been artistically talented, but he'd had to learn how to draw over the years. After the third or fourth time he'd picked up a bit of equipment from the local garage and found it didn't actually look anything like he wanted it to, he'd bought some pencils and a lot of paper, and had sat down until things on the paper started looking vaguely like they did in his head. The design he was sketching at the moment looked like a child's caricature, but it would suffice.

He looked up as Rei sat beside him, a book in her hands. She'd found his collection of books before he'd gotten back from the Jet Alone deployment (_Not that they even needed me,_ Shinji thought bitterly), and had picked up one of them.

"Nineteen eighty-four?" Shinji asked when he saw the cover. Rei nodded. "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever." She looked confused at that – she was only about halfway through by the look of it. "It's a quote," he explained. "It's an interesting book. I must have read it half a dozen times."

"The concept is interesting," agreed Rei. "What are you drawing?"

"Oh, this?" he said. "I'm thinking of mounting some cameras and other sensors on a quad-rotor drone. Maybe fit a laser system or something too – the MAGI told me the thing I did before the last battle actually had a slight effect, so with a few hundred of these we might be able to weaken an Angel's AT Field enough for conventional weapons to start hurting it."

"It does not look aerodynamically stable," Rei noted. Shinji smiled.

"I'm a pretty terrible artist," he admitted. "But the MAGI should be able to get the general gist." Misato strode through the door of the apartment, and made a beeline towards the beer fridge. Shinji counted the number of beers she downed before finally walking over to where the two children sat. He winced. _Five? Must have been a pretty terrible report_, he thought.

"I have good news, and I have bad news," Misato began.

"Bad news first," said Shinji, automatically.

"Well, the bad news is that I'm going to have to drag you away from this domestic bliss again the day after tomorrow," she said. Rei actually looked slightly disappointed at that. "The good news is that we're getting another Evangelion unit. The German Branch has finally decided that Unit Two would do more good over here than over there, and this morning the UN voted to make Tokyo-three an exception to the Vatican Treaty. We'll be going over to the UN Pacific Fleet on Monday where we'll guide them in. NERV wants an officer in the fleet because the Commander's a paranoid asshole, and he also decided to send a pilot along in order to, and I quote, "acclimatise the new pilot to their future surroundings." That means you, Shinji."

"The Commander's strategy does not appear to make sense," said Rei. "Pilot Ikari is currently the only pilot in Tokyo-three with a combat-ready Evangelion. If an Angel were to attack the city, we would be effectively defenceless."

"I'm not exactly willing to risk that," Shinji said. "Unit Zero's going to be out of action for a while, and-"

"And if an Angel does attack the city we'll be three hours away. The city can hold for that long, even with the damage done by the last one. The Commander deems the risk acceptable," countered Misato. "Besides, it's an order, one he made clear that you cannot refuse."

"Damn it," Shinji sighed. "Fine. Like I have a choice."

"You'll like the new pilot, I promise," said Misato. "Besides, I've already invited your friends from school along. It should be fun."

"You should not lie, Captain Katsuragi," said Rei. "It is unlikely that Shinji will like Pilot Sorhyu." Shinji glanced at her. "We have met previously. I found her to be remarkably arrogant and abrasive," she explained.

"You say that, Rei, but you're probably going to end up sharing a room with her," said Misato. "The Commander made the point that since we already have two pilots in the same apartment, we may as well make it three." Rei fell silent, considering this information.

"If that is the case, I will simply move into Ikari's room," she argued. Shinji gulped, and moved towards the kitchen. This conversation was going somewhere he did not want to go.

"I'll... just go start dinner, then," he said, excusing himself. Rei looked at Misato with her usual serious expression.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asked. Misato got up silently, walked over to the fridge, and pulled out another six-pack of beers.

* * *

_Nothing but screaming and roaring and it was right in front of her and they said there'd be air support where's the air support get the shield up but now it's doing nothing and it's using it's **own severed arm **as a weapon hits her across the face once twice stab it with the knife but it just keeps coming they told me it would hurt why does it hurt this much can't keep going -_

Rose woke up, screaming. Weak sunlight filtered through the curtains as she sat up. _Again?_ she thought to herself as she went through the familiar routine. Get out of bed, go into kitchen, grab a drink, turn on the news and wait for Mike to turn up. He knew to give her a few moments alone before making sure she was alright. The fact she'd once put a bullet through his leg probably had something to do with that. He was normally pretty bad at taking hints. _It sounds so cruel when I put it like that, _she considered while she waited, _but he started it. Payback for St. Louis._ That was the more vindictive side of her talking, and she knew it. 

Michael staggered in, pistol held loosely at his side. "Again?" he asked, the ritual demanding he ask. She nodded, and he held her. She felt... conflicted. On the one hand, this was the boy who'd ripped her limb from limb, who'd torn her nation apart like it was nothing, who deserved a bullet to the face more than anything else. On the other, he'd never been anything but... nice when actually talking to her – or anyone else for that matter. She had a hard time hating him, especially with some of the things she'd found out over the years. 

Not that it mattered. It never had.

* * *

Admiral Oliver Jones was not a complicated man. Considering the world he lived in, that was quite an achievement. He was not an especially political animal, and he had nothing but disdain for the games MI6 played behind the scenes. It should be noted here that neither of these things prohibited him from playing his own games.

Regardless, when he strode onto the bridge of the UNS _Over The Rainbow_, he did so with the full knowledge that he was not going to enjoy his stay despite the rather amazing shine of the afternoon sun on the water. Everything about the fleet's mission stank of politics and shadow games, from the fleet's mere existence to the lack of amphibious equipment for Unit 02 to the presence of a certain UN Special Inspector. Luckily, it wasn't his fleet to command, so as far as he was concerned none of that was his business.

"Admiral Borodin. It's good to see you again," he greeted with a salute. His counterpart – a former submarine officer turned surface captain in the wake of Second Impact – returned the salute.

"Admiral Jones. A pleasure," Borodin said. "Have you come to get this bloody piece of junk away from my fleet?"

Jones smiled carefully. "Unfortunately, Unit Two's a lot bigger than Unit Seven. It wouldn't fit," he said. "Even if it did, I've got orders to head back to Gibraltar ASAP. I'll be with the fleet for a day or two, if you don't mind. It'd save a few days in refuelling later."

"Your _Lancaster_ was never designed for the sort of work you've been putting her through. I'd have thought Her Majesty would have given you something a bit newer," commented Borodin.

"She does alright," said Jones. "Besides, it's not like every other ship in the fleet is just lying at port with nothing to do. We've got task forces pretty much everywhere, and even with the American Arleigh Burkes... Hell, you remember Saint Lawrence? We must have lost half the fleet in that battle alone."

"I was on board the _Admiral Spiridonov_ when the American fighter wing came in. We got two, and then one of those damned Hornets put a Harpoon right through the engines," said Borodin, motioning to the exit. "We'll go have some tea while we catch up."

Jones followed Borodin off of the bridge. "You remember that crazy French bastard? Captain... Duval? Durant? I can never remember. Rammed one of those stealth frigates right into the middle of the entire American-" he cut off as he walked into Borodin's back. The Russian Admiral was glaring at an unshaven man who'd appeared in the corridor.

"Inspector Kaji," Borodin spat. "How many times do I have to tell you that you're not allowed on my bridge?"

"I thought I'd pay the valiant Admiral Jones a visit," said the Inspector. "There's some paperwork we need to get done."

"Later," Jones said, waving the man off. Borodin pushed past the Inspector, and Jones followed. "So anyway, this French guy somehow manages to get his frigate right next to the American carrier – this was later on in the battle, when things got a little confusing – and he thinks it's the _Charles De Gaulle_, so he pulls off and only when he's nearly back in our own lines does he realise that it was actually the _Carl Vinson_. I swear, that French bastard pulled the tightest one-eighty I have ever seen!"

Both of the Admirals laughed as they walked, engrossed in stories they'd each heard a thousand times. Work could wait.

* * *

Shinji watched the sunrise on the water as the Mi-8 transport helicopter approached the fleet. He knew it was an Mi-8 because Kensuke hadn't shut up about the damned thing since they'd transferred from a NERV VTOL (apparently a Chinese Z-20, whatever that was) at an airbase on some island that he couldn't remember the name of. _Rei would probably know_, he thought. _Kensuke would, too, but if I asked him..._

He'd made that mistake when they'd transferred. When he'd asked why they were getting out of one aircraft to get into another, Kensuke had launched into a massive description of the VTOL and how it was actually quite limited in range. After a while, he'd been tempted to steal Misato's gun and shoot either himself or Kensuke. Toji had just ignored the whole thing. The jock was a bit preoccupied with trying not to throw up. 

_At least it's a nice sunrise._ Normally, he'd have been terrified of the unfathomable depths right below him, but considering he'd spent most of the previous day trying to get his drone design to actually work rather than crash every time the MAGI simulated it, he was more in a mood to just enjoy being outside. By the time Rei had gotten out of the tests Father kept putting her through, it had been late enough at night that the city was almost deserted. He smiled as he remembered the walk back to the apartment. _We'll have to do something like that again. It was... nice._

With that thought in mind, he slipped his headphones on, queued up several Beethoven collections and just enjoyed the sunrise.

* * *

UN Special Inspector Ryoji Kaji stepped into what was supposed to be a secure, locked room. He had spent several hours making sure that he was the only person who could get in, which made it slightly strange that a grey-haired middle-aged man was currently sitting on his bed aiming a pistol at his face. Being the highly-trained, experienced secret agent that he was, he was able to keep his face relatively still. 

"Okay," he began, "I have to know... how?" 

"Honestly?" said Admiral Jones, "You left the window open." Kaji sighed, and sat down opposite the Admiral. 

"Why are you here?" he asked. 

"Two things. Firstly, did you or yours have anything to do with the raid on my base a few weeks back?" demanded the Admiral. 

"I knew about it," Kaji admitted. "No idea what they were after, though." 

"I'll take your word for it. Although..." Jones leaned back, the pistol moving slightly to compensate. "That still leaves the matter of a certain item that was stolen from that base. An item we had under heavy guard right up until that day, when we were supposed to launch it into space. I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about." He motioned to Kaji's footlocker with his free hand. "That locker's a lot more secure than this room." 

"I'm delivering a certain item to Commander Ikari, yes. I don't know what-" 

Jones cut Kaji off. "Don't lie to me. I've been playing this game longer than you've been alive. Now, I know you can't give me that... item, and I'd have to shoot you if I tried to take it. So, here's what we're going to do. You will deliver that item as planned, and then you will send a copy of every report you write directly to me. Then, when the time comes... you will get that item back for me." 

Kaji sighed again. "I don't suppose I have to ask what happens if I refuse?" he said. Jones shook his head. "Alright. Like I even have a choice."

"A pleasure doing business with you," said Admiral Jones as he stood up and walked out of Kaji's room. 

* * *

"-and that's the _Over the Rainbow_!" Kensuke shouted, waking Shinji from his nap. "She's the only _Unity_-class in service!" There was a brief pause the nerd's otherwise incessant chatter, before he noticed something else to shout about. "Oh my god! That's the _Lancaster_! One of just two Type twenty-three Frigates that survived the Impact Wars! She's supposed to be the flagship of the Royal Navy's Evangelion Task Force – that thing can carry an Eva on the specially-modified flight deck..." 

"A bunch of toy ships," dismissed Misato. "A single Eva could take the whole lot." That shut Kensuke up until the helicopter landed on the flight deck of the weirdly-named carrier.

"Why is it called the _Over the Rainbow_, anyway?" asked Shinji as they stepped off of the aircraft.

"It was a joke some wise guy made when they were designing the ship," said Misato. "It's a joint British, Russian, German and Japanese design, and there were a lot of political problems with getting it into service. Someone said "It's like the pot of gold over the rainbow, we'll never see it", and the day after that the UN decided it really needed an aircraft carrier that year. It's supposed to be ironic or something."

Shinji stared at Misato. "That... is a pretty terrible reason," he said. Before she could reply, they noticed a redheaded girl in a yellow sundress (_I wonder how long it'll take before a gust of wind just so happens to blow by here?_ Shinji wondered cynically) striding towards them. Shinji sighed. "Great, more people to deal with." Misato glared at him. "It's not like I slept at all last night, Misato," he explained.

"Should have thought of that before you spent the entire night with your girlfriend," Misato whispered, smirking. The incoming girl stopped in front of the group, glaring at each of the boys in turn.

"So which one of you _arschlochs_ is the pilot of Unit One?" she demanded, arms folded across her chest. Shinji pinched the bridge of his nose unconsciously. _There goes any hope of her being quiet like Rei_, he thought.

"That would be me," he said, raising his hand. "Shinji Ikari." He paused, waiting for the girl to introduce herself. Several seconds of awkward silence ensued. "So... who are you?" he ventured after a while.

"I am Asuka Langley Sorhyu, Pilot of Evangelion Unit Two! NERV has decided to finally bring in their only real pilot to the single most important war on the planet," declared the girl – Asuka. Shinji could almost feel the amusement radiating off of Misato.

"Okay," Shinji replied. Being calm and level was probably the best way to get through this. "It's nice to meet you, Asuka Langley Sorhyu. Now then-" A gust of wind from a landing VTOL swept over them, and Shinji looked away before dust could get in his eyes. He heard the sound of two slaps, and somehow knew exactly what had happened before he turned back. Toji was glaring at Asuka, while Kensuke had gone back to obsessing over all the ships. Two bright red handmarks were visible on their faces.

"And that," he said, exasperated, "is why wearing a short sundress on the deck of a ship is a bad idea." Asuka glared at him, and he got the feeling he was about to receive a handprint of his own.

Before that could happen, Misato intervened. "Alright, Asuka," she said, "Take us up to the bridge."

* * *

"No, no, no, no! I will **not** have NERV taking over my damned fleet!" yelled Admiral Borodin, pushing aside the form Misato was holding out to him. "I had enough of your damned giant robots in the Impact Wars!"

"Relax, _tovarishch_," said Admiral Jones from the back of the room – something called a "Combat Information Centre" rather than the bridge for some reason. _Isn't it supposed to be the bridge? _thought Shinji. "They just want to cover all the bases."

"Don't you start," snapped Borodin, "this whole damned thing is your fault."

"Regardless, **Admiral**," cut in Misato, "If an Angel attacks then as per UN Resolution seventy-two thirteen, all forces flying the UN banner are obligated to help."

"Like that's going to happen," came a voice from behind Shinji, who was doing his best to make himself seem invisible. It wasn't hard, considering the girl they'd come to meet. "I see you're looking as beautiful as ever, Misato."

"Oh please, someone tell me that's not who I think it is," said Misato as she slowly turned around. "Of all the people who could possibly turn up again in my life, it just had to be Ryoji fucking Kaji."

"Don't act so surprised," said the man – Kaji. "We both know we were meant for other."

"Enough!" said Borodin, forcefully. "Get the hell out of my CIC, all of you." Toji took the lead – apparently he got seasick as well as airsick – as they filtered out of the room. Kensuke tried to hang around long enough to get a picture, but a pointed look from Misato ushered him out.

"Hey, Shinji!" called Asuka as he tried to escape somewhere quiet. "Come with me for a moment, I've got something to show you." _This is going to end really, really well, isn't it? _Shinji thought.

Back in the CIC, Borodin and Jones shared a despairing look. "Anyway," said Jones, "I should be getting back to the _Lancaster_. We've taken on enough fuel to make it to the depot at Singapore, so we should be okay to make it all the way back."

"Safe travels, _tovarishch_," replied Borodin as Jones left the room.

* * *

"It's... red," said Shinji, lamely. The Evangelion in front of him was impressive, but he honestly couldn't find any other differences besides the colour.

"Damn right it's red!" exclaimed Asuka from behind him. "It's my Unit Two! He's stronger, faster and easier to use than ever other Evangelion in existence!"

"It's... smaller than Unit One," noted Shinji absently. "Unit Zero is, too. Why is that?"

"That's because they left your failed prototype in the growth medium until the Fourth Angel showed up," said Asuka. "He's -" she indicated Unit 02 - "not had as much time to grow. But he's still better than yours, rookie!"

"Does this mean I don't have to take point any more?" asked Shinji. With Rei as the only other pilot, he'd never complained about being the first pilot deployed (mostly because Unit 00 seemed to be in a permanent state of repair), but now they had another pilot...

"Oh, so the little _arschloch _thinks he's clever, does he?" growled Asuka. "You seem to be pretty lucky, so I think you'll stay there. Maybe you'll take down one or two Angels before I mop the floor with them."

Shinji resorted to sarcasm. "Please don't," he said, "It doesn't work so well. I tried it with the Fourth, I just ended up getting blood everywhere..." He could almost feel the glare drilling into his spine, but before the redhead could say anything else the cargo ship they'd transferred to rocked violently, sending them both sprawling. This time, Shinji managed to avoid an awkward situation, but almost ended up in the weird storage fluid Unit 02 was bathing in.

"The **fuck** was that?" said Asuka as she got to her feet. Another explosion rocked the ship, and Shinji's heart sank.

"An Angel," he said.

* * *

"Battle stations!" ordered Admiral Jones as he stepped into the CIC of the _Lancaster_. Around him, the crew scurried to comply. A wireframe projection of the battlefield sprung up from the table in the centre of the room, and Jones surveyed the situation. _The Diamond's gone,_ he noted, _and it looks like the Bezuprechnyy is taking on water. _"It's headed for the _Over the Rainbow_," he said. "Helm! Position us between the enemy and the carrier!"

The _Lancaster_'s engines span up, pushing the frigate into the combat zone. The rest of the fleet was a mess – each individual ship seemed to be doing whatever the hell it liked without thought for any others. "Get me the _Rainbow_," Jones ordered, and picked up the phone on the table. "What the hell is going on over there, Vasily?"

All that came over the line was the distant sound of arguing. He swore he could hear that NERV officer's voice again. Sighing, he put the phone back in its cradle and opened up the command channel. "All ships," he ordered, "begin dispersal and submarine chasing manoeuvres. Stop acting like a bunch of headless chickens, you idiots!"

Some of the ships on the tactical plot began to move slightly more intelligently, but it was still a mess. "Any word on what it is?" he asked.

"Sensors confirm an AT field is present," said one officer. Everyone fell silent; all the crew had seen Unit 07 on at least one rampage. "It's underwater, sir," the officer continued.

"Alright," said Jones, resting his head in his hands. "What can I use here..."

"Sir!" called another officer, "Transmission from the _Blue Marlin_! Unit Two is active!"

"Fucking idiot girl," muttered Jones. "They'll sink the moment they get into the water."

"Ummm... sir?" said the officer, "You might want to watch them on the plot..."

Jones looked up. "What the **shitting hell are they doing?**"

* * *

"This is a really, really bad idea," Shinji protested, trying desperately to keep certain body parts from contacting certain female body parts. "Look, these things don't float too well! It's underwater! Do the maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAA-" 

Asuka launched the Evangelion off of the deck of the heavy lift ship, aiming not for the Angel but the _Kirov_-class battlecruiser that was trying to get away from the Angel. Shinji only breathed out when it seemed like they were stable, only for Asuka to launch them into the air again. This time, they landed on the deck of the _Over the Rainbow_, where a power cord was waiting. 

"Thanks, Misato!" Asuka said cheerfully. "Now, come hither little Angel..." 

Almost as if responding to the challenge, the Angel flew from the water. Asuka dove under the gigantic fish, stabbing one of the Eva's knives into its stomach. All that accomplished was dragging Unit 02 halfway down the deck of the carrier before she managed to get the knife free, cursing. One of the destroyers in the fleet tried to take a shot with its cannon, but the shot went wide and slammed into Unit 02's back, knocking it over. 

"Shinji!" Asuka yelled as they stood up, "Get them to cut that out so I can **kill this bastard!**" 

Not willing to risk the wrath of the redhead, Shinji accessed the command channel using the NERV override code Rei had given him just before he'd left that morning. "All ships," he said, "This is... this is..." Unit 02 rocked as the Angel made another pass and an anti-ship missile blew the left shoulder pylon off. "This is Evangelion Unit Two! Cease firing on the Angel, you're getting in the way!" he yelled, the pain of the impact coming through even though he shouldn't have been synchronised. 

"This is _Lancaster_ Actual," came a voice. "Copy that, Unit Two. Good hunting." 

Job done, Shinji sat back. It was time to think of a way to kill the Angel, and Asuka couldn't do it like this. An evil smile crept onto his face as one occurred to him. "_Lancaster_ Actual, this is Unit Two," he said, trying to remember radio protocol. "How many sonar sets have we got in the fleet?"

* * *

"That glorious bastard!" cried Jones as he grasped Shinji's plan. "More than enough," he replied. "Just give the word."

"Copy that, _Lancaster_," said the boy on the other side of the line. "Do it whenever you're ready."

"Sir," an officer reported, "There's an aircraft launching from the _Rainbow_. No-one's cleared for launch..."

"Let it go," said Jones. "We have slightly bigger fish to fry." He re-opened the fleet-wide channel, and barked "All sonar-equipped ships, prepare to go active on my mark. Maximum power, highest frequency!"

"Ready on your mark, sir!" reported the officer in charge of the sonar set.

"Don't bother," ordered Jones. "We need to see if this works." 

* * *

The Angel made yet another pass over the carrier, trying to get at the desperate call it could feel within. Suddenly, the call seemed to be coming from far above, but the Angel could no longer focus on its mission. Wave after wave of sound poured in from every direction, each one powerful enough to shake a human body apart. Combined, it was too much even for the Angel to bear. It was even interfering with its senses, rendering it nearly blind.

Nearly.

It could "see" two of the metal boxes that were trying to stop it from completing its mission. Acting on instinct, it pushed itself along at full speed towards the nearest object.

On board the _Lancaster,_ the crew didn't even have time to react. Several thousand tonnes of angry Angel ploughed into the frigate, cracking it in half. The Angel spun, and charged towards the second metal box.

* * *

"The _Lancaster's_ gone!" shouted some voice in Shinji's ear as the Angel demolished the ship next to them. "It's headed for the _Rainbow!_" Shinji felt a chill run down his spine. _We can't protect the carrier if it doesn't jump again,_ he thought. _And if it goes down, so do we_.

"Fuck that," he said. Asuka turned around to look at him. "Kill this bastard," he said.

Asuka grinned, and they jumped.

The red Evangelion landed on the back of the Angel, forcing it to a stop. Asuka stabbed at it again and again with the knives, but couldn't get through its armour. Shinji wondered why the Angel didn't just dive, before realising the sonar pulses were probably discouraging it. The Angel twisted, trying to swallow the Evangelion... and there was its core.

"You know," Shinji said dryly, "I kind of expected it to be there." Asuka didn't reply, but shoved the Eva's hand down the Angel's throat. Its jaws clamped around the arm, but they ignored the pain and stabbed the knife into the core once... twice... three times... and then the core shattered, and the Angel stopped struggling.

"That..." Shinji began, as the two pilots struggled for breath.

"Was annoying," finished Asuka.


	14. Chapter 14

Michael span, levering the bulk of his artificial arm against his momentum, and cut the practice sword through the dummy target. He thrust out as he came to a halt, spearing the second dummy through the chest. Three more dummies popped up, and he brought the blade around again – one, two, three, four movements, _focus on the footwork_ and the dummies went down. Panting (and forcing the thought that he shouldn't be this tired to the back of his mind), he raised the sword back into the guard position and waited for the next stage of the sequence.

Nothing happened.

He walked over to the training room's control room to reset the sequence, but the door to the chamber opened before he could get there. Rose stepped in, her face unreadable.

"What happened?" Michael asked. "I gave orders not to be disturbed unless something happened..."

"The Pacific Fleet got hit by an Angel," Rose said, quietly. "The _Lancaster_ was sunk. No survivors."

Michael stared at her for a few minutes, thinking. Finally, he keyed in the reset code, and waved Rose out of the room. "I'll be in the command centre in ten minutes," he said.

Rose paused, halfway out of the door, and turned to Michael. She opened her mouth to speak, then just shook her head and walked out.

* * *

Shinji smiled as he saw a familiar mop of blue hair in the crowd waiting for the _Rainbow_, and vaguely wondered how Rei'd gotten on in his absence. The harbour they were pulling into was yet another technological marvel; massive networks of canals and lakes led from the coast to the city, terminating in the massive dockyard hidden under the eastern mountain ridge. It had been a pleasant surprise, and now he was finally going to get off of this damned aircraft carrier and back into something resembling normality.

With a resounding clang, the _Over the Rainbow_ came to a halt. Massive cranes moved to remove the Angel's corpse from its deck, and beside it the _Blue Marlin_ slid into its own dock. Workers hurried to moor the ship and get a million different things done, and mostly just got in each other's way. Eventually, however, the personnel ramps were secured. It took Shinji a while to get down one – there were quite a few people trying to get up it for some reason, not to mention the tide of sailors trying to get some shore leave – and he found himself alone (aside from all the people his mind classed as "NPCs", anyway) for the first time in a week when he reached the bottom.

He leaned against the railing, and ran through a few equations as he waited for people to catch up. _The trick with the Sonar won't work again_, he decided after a while. _Mostly because it'd be a pain to get that many ships together again._ He'd seen the tactical plots after the battle, and had been surprised to see just how chaotic it had been. Most of the damage to the fleet had actually been from friendly fire and collisions, to say nothing of the damage done to the submarines accompanying the fleet by the sonar pulses.

"Ikari," said a voice – Rei's – breaking into his thoughts. "It is good to see you again." Shinji opened his eyes, and nearly pushed himself through the railing. The push of the crowd had forced Rei just a few centimetres away from him. _Is that a smile?_ he wondered.

"It's nice to see you too, Ayanami," he replied. "It's... a little packed in here, isn't it?" He'd been able to ignore just how many people were around him until right then, and the press of people threatened to send him into a panic attack.

"Do you dislike crowds?" Rei asked, her quiet voice somehow still audible. He saw she was doing the cocked-head thing again, and smiled despite himself.

"Too many people," he said. Rei nodded, and grabbed his hand. He barely managed to get out a single strangled syllable before she dragged him out through the crowds.

* * *

Michael struggled with the top button of his dress uniform, his left sleeve hanging empty as per regulations. Even so, there was a visible bulge where the adaptor linked into his nervous system. _I haven't worn this in... well, ever, really_, he reflected as he finally got the damned thing in. He buckled the sword belt around his waist, and somehow managed to muddle through the various other bits of insignia demanded by his station.

Turning to leave, he caught sight of himself in a mirror. _I really look ridiculous in this_, he decided. _I'm sure I can probably get away with not wearing it again..._

The rack of campaign medals caught his attention. He stared at them for a bit, lost in memory, before a cough welled up in his throat. He caught it with a tissue, threw the tissue into a bin, and left the dressing room.

He tried to put the blood on the tissue out of his mind.

* * *

"_Services were held yesterday afternoon for the four hundred and forty sailors lost in the Angel attack two days ago. With the loss of most of the Evangelion Task Force's support and command personnel, questions are being raised as to the Task Force's continued effectiveness; when asked about these comments, a Royal Navy spokesperson said it was "Too early to tell". We go to our correspondent at the Task Force's headquarters on Gibraltar, Jake Rogerson. Jake, what do you think's going to happen next?"_

"_Well, June, as you can see behind me there's work being done on the Rapid Response launch pad; it looks like they're making ready to perform a full-scale launch test. With rumours abounding that Admiral Jones – the head of the Task Force – was killed on board the _Lancaster_, it seems that the still-unnamed Pilot of Unit Seven is now technically in command of the entire Task Force. This marks a historic occasion – the first time any Evangelion Pilot has been given formal command over their respective organisations."_

"_Whoever they are, it's probably going to be a strain. Has there been any talk of a replacement for Admiral Jones? What effect is this going to have on the upcoming General Assembly meeting?"_

"_So far, there's been no official response on the issue of command. Keep in mind that we haven't yet confirmed Admiral Jones' death, so talk of his replacement is slightly premature. Regardless, the Angel attack should give the Anglo-French representative the ammunition they need to push through the amendment to the Vatican Treaty tomorrow. We could be seeing a new era in international co-operation, or yet another disturbing development in Evangelion warfare."_

"_That was Jake Rogerson, our Evangelion correspondent, reporting from Gibraltar. In the headlines this morning: The Royal Navy continues to recover after the Angel attack two days ago, the UN Space Corps' first combat ship makes its way to the moon, the Neo-African Union issues demands that it should be allowed to start its own Evangelion program, and reports indicate the Anglo-French economy has grown for the first time since Second Impact. This is BBC News, at Eight o'clock."_

* * *

Shinji flicked the television onto a different channel as the news program moved on to the next story. He let the film – some weird British thing about an inventor and his dog – play as he started preparing dinner for the day. Luckily, there hadn't been any sign of the new pilot moving in just yet, so at least he didn't have to cook whatever it was she ate as well as making sure there was a vegetarian option and something for the penguin. He hummed the film's theme song as he worked, and part of him vaguely wondered how the penguin featured as the film's main villain even became a criminal.

"That dog is remarkably dexterous," said a quiet voice from behind him. He smiled, and turned his head.

"I think you're supposed to suspend most real-world logic for this one," he said over his shoulder. "You'd love the first one – the guy built a rocket in his basement and went to the Moon. Which was, incidentally, made of cheese." The expression on Rei's face was worth the past several days.

"...What kind of cheese?" she asked. Shinji turned back to the cooker to hide his grin.

"They never said," he replied. "Although I can see where you're coming from. Hell, they've found planets made of diamond and entire clouds of alcohol out there, there's probably a moon made of cheese somewhere in the universe."

"Simple probability dictates that there should be, somewhere," Rei agreed. "How was your trip?"

"That was the question you wanted to ask first, wasn't it?" Shinji said, and shrugged. "I found out that the AT Field also seems to interact with physical waves. Not exactly new information, but it was nice to have confirmation. Aside from that, I got several lectures on various pieces of military equipment, witnessed just how chaotic a naval battle can get if you don't actually have anyone in command, and I met the new pilot. I think she'll do well, even if she is a little annoying," he finished, pre-empting Rei's next question.

"She is certainly competent enough." Rei was silent for a bit, and Shinji knew something else was on her mind. "Ikari..." she began, and trailed off.

_This is not going to be good, _he decided. "Yes, Rei?" he said.

"I... did some reasearchonlineandhavefoundoutthereisascreeningofaninterestingfilmatanearbycinemathisweekendwouldyouliketocomewithme?" the blue-haired girl said, nearly tripping over her own words towards the end.

"I don't have anything on this weekend," Shinji replied. "I'll tag along if you want." He turned around to ask Rei to start setting the table, but for some reason the girl was gone. _Wait..._ he thought, considering the entire conversation. _Did she just ask me out?_

* * *

"That is one less thing to worry about," Fuyutsuki said as Gendo re-read Misato's report from the Seventh Angel battle. "With their leader dead, the chances are slim that the British will try to intervene."

"Unfortunately, it would be wise not to write off the possibility just yet," countered Gendo, folding the report back into a folder. "Revenge is a powerful motivator, after all. Even if the old men do manage to swing the vote tomorrow, I doubt the Captain will actually listen."

"We've both read the psychological profile on their pilots," argued Fuyutsuki, who was beginning to wish he had a chair. "If he acts, it won't be because he wants revenge."

"And the report on my son indicated he was a weak-willed approval-seeking teenager," Gendo said. "They are not entirely accurate at the best of times."

Fuyutsuki knew this meant the conversation was over – if Gendo had any ideas as to how to deal with the problem, he wasn't sharing them. "Speaking of your son," he continued, bringing up the next topic, "The MAGI's report on Rei's browser history is a little disconcerting."

"Oh?" asked Gendo. "I try not to read those reports any more. I don't want to know what my son is into in **that** regard." A clear warning, there.

"Don't worry, it's nothing of **that** nature. She's been looking up how to proceed with a romantic relationship with Pilot Ikari," Fuyutsuki said. "Incidentally, while we're on the topic-" Gendo shot a glare at the professor, who grinned. "A joke, Ikari. I'm not the disgusting old pervert you think I am." The opportunity had been too good to pass up – it wasn't every day one got an emotional reaction from the Commander of NERV.

"A troubling development," Gendo said, calmly. "But not one I have not prepared for. We have options to deal with this."

"And which shall you take, Ikari?" asked Fuyutsuki. "Tear them apart, and risk their wrath? We still need them both, and we're not ready to replace Rei just yet. Or shall we take the long game, and use the girl as bait for him to start Instrumentality?" The old man sighed. "And when he becomes a god, for a brief moment of time, he will find out the truth and I doubt he'll be very happy with you. Or perhaps you have succumbed to sentimentality, and you'll just let them be?" That last part was said with just the slightest hint of encouragement.

"Do you really know so little about me, old man?" said Gendo sardonically. "I am far more subtle than that. They will do as I command, not because I command it but because there is no other option for them to take. They will pilot because they want to protect each other, and they will obey us in the final act for the exact same reason."

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," Fuyutsuki recited. "Not exactly the meaning of the monologue, but I think it's rather apt."

Gendo simply nodded. The conversation was over.

* * *

"-So please give a warm welcome to our new student. Would you like to introduce yourself?" said the teacher, breaking Shinji out of an internal monologue. He hadn't seen Rei since they'd spoken last night, and hadn't really thought of much else between then and now. However, the sight of Asuka walking up to the front of the classroom was enough to divert his attention.

"Greetings!" said the redhead, brightly. "I'm Asuka Langley Sorhyu, and I'm going to be in this class until NERV finally catches up with the fact I passed out of high school several years ago." Mutters spread around the classroom at that, and the students seemed to be figuring out that Asuka was a pilot. "Oh, and by the way," she continued, "I'm the pilot of Evangelion Unit Two, although I'm sure I shouldn't have to tell you that." None of the students reacted; everything that had happened in the past few months had made them nearly immune to such a shock. There was a brief pause, as the redhead waited for some sort of reaction, then she opened her mouth to continue.

"Thank you, Asuka," said Hikari, cutting Asuka off before she could speak. "Take one of the empty seats, please." _Please don't sit by me, please don't sit by me, please don't sit by me,_ Shinji mentally begged. Dealing with Asuka had been tiring enough on the journey on the _Rainbow_, he didn't think he could deal with her every day in school. Unfortunately, the empty seat behind him was also the seat next to Hikari and thus the the centre of a group of girls. _Not that I'd taken notice of anything like that or anything_, Shinji thought hastily. Asuka being Asuka, she made a beeline right for that seat.

"Hey there, Shinji," she greeted as she sat down. "You've been hard to find, you know that? I wanted to check up on you after the battle. Where did you disappear off to?"

Shinji swallowed nervously. _This could be awkward..._ "Actually," he began, "I kind of took the time to get a few things out of the way. I was holed up... somewhere... for most of the journey."

Asuka didn't seem to be buying it. "Where exactly were you "holed up"?" she asked, voice dangerously sweet.

"The_BlueMarlin_," Shinji said quickly. "I was doing tests on your Eva and what was left of the Angel," he admitted.

"You were... what?" Asuka said, carefully keeping her voice sweet.

"They won't let me at Unit One," Shinji explained. "If it's any help, I think I've figured out how to detect an Angel's core, and if I can get some better equipment from NERV..."

"Then you could find any Angels lying dormant!" Asuka realised, eyes widening. She seemed to forget about Shinji's actions, and the boy sighed with relief. "How did you even think of a way to **do** that?"

"It's actually quite simple, when you think about it," Shinji said, slipping into scientist mode. "We know the AT Field reacts to both energy and matter, so my thinking was we get some neutrino generators going with detectors in appropriate places. The substance making up the cores found in Angels and Evangelions is far more dense than most material natural to Earth, so if there's an area where the neutrinos seem to be having trouble we can just triangulate on that spot."

"Sounds a little expensive," Asuka pointed out. "There's... three? Four? New-model neutrino detectors on the planet. Unless you want to use the old swimming-pool method, that is."

"...you do know we can just build about fifty of the damned things this afternoon, right?" Shinji countered. "The MAGI have the blueprints, and the fabricators are capable of making most of the components. Everything else, I can probably make myself."

"Wait, you mean three-d fabricators actually exist? I thought they were an urban legend," Asuka said, surprised.

"They're not," Shinji said, simply. "I've actually seen one. They had the damned thing just sitting there doing nothing – you'd think with something so powerful, they'd be running it twenty-four seven..." he trailed off. "I think I've persuaded the MAGI to give me access to it. I do need to go through my father, though. That... could be a problem."

"Oh yeah!" Asuka exclaimed, realising something. "Your dad's the Commander of NERV! Why do you even have to persuade the MAGI?"

"Me and father... aren't close," Shinji said, turning to look out the window. Thankfully, Asuka took the hint and didn't press the issue.

* * *

"Captain Ayanami," came a soft, confident voice from behind Michael. He'd found a shaded, verdant area of the barren island, and had sat down with a book some hours before. He stood up, wincing as a spike of pain shot through him (_I need some painkillers or something, this is getting too much_, he decided), and saluted as the source of the voice became clear.

"Your majesty!" he said.

"At ease, Captain." The ancient woman waited for him to follow her command, then continued. "I remember this place before it was like this," she mused.

"Your majesty?" Michael asked.

"I think if any single person in my kingdom has earned the right to speak freely in my presence, it would be you, Captain." The Queen motioned, and a hidden servant brought a chair across. Taking it, she sighed. "This island used to be quite forested, back before Second Impact."

"A lot of the world was better back then," Michael commented, nervously. "Much of Britain's still bearing the scars of Impact and the war, according to some of the things I've heard."

"Perhaps. It was, however, a corrupt and lazy world. We were so distracted with hating each other and getting whatever we could we forgot there were more important things. The Impact was an opportunity, one you have helped us in grasping with both hands," the Queen said. "You are planning to intervene in the next Angel battle, are you not?"

"Yes, your majesty," Michael admitted. "It is... mildly irresponsible for us to just sit back and do nothing." The old woman looked at him properly for the first time since she'd spoken. "I listen to your speeches, your majesty. There are eight Evangelions currently in operational condition, of which five are not involved in a battle which may determine the fate of the human race. While I am content to follow orders, I am in command of this unit. The only person I report to is you, your majesty."

The Queen laughed, a surprisingly young sound. "That is true, is it not? It would be rather hypocritical of one to tell the world to be more responsible then deny you the chance to do so. The amendment to the Vatican treaty is being voted on tomorrow. We are bound by international law, regardless of what we may believe. If the vote passes, then you may go forth. If not, then you must obey the law."

"I understand, your majesty," said Michael. He checked his watch. "May I be dismissed, your majesty? My schedule is busy, and I have unfortunately just reached the end of my free time for this week."

"You should have said so sooner," scolded the Queen. "You are dismissed." Michael bowed, and left the grove.

* * *

"She did **what**?!" asked Toji and Kensuke in unison, incredulous.

"She asked me to go see a film with her on Saturday," Shinji confirmed. "I'm not sure it's what you guys are thinking, but..."

"She asked you out," Toji said confidently. Kensuke nodded with enthusiasm. "Unless it's something to do with NERV."

"It's just... I can't really see any girl asking me out. Hell, until recently I couldn't imagine talking to anyone without needing to," said Shinji. "It's just... not something that happens in reality, you know?"

"Shin-man," Toji began, "You pilot a giant robot to protect humanity from giant monsters. You are also apparently a mad scientist in your spare time, your father is the commander of the single most powerful military organisation on the planet short of the UN itself, and you live with not one, but two – and probably soon to be three – women who you're not related to. You're pretty much the main character of an anime already! Considering everything else, a girl asking you out should seem pretty normal!"

"If he's the main character, then something's going to go wrong on Saturday," Kensuke interjected. "It always does; she'll get kidnapped, there'll be an Angel attack, your nemesis will challenge you – something."

"That is a point," Shinji said, slipping into scientist mode, "I need to check with the MAGI. I asked them to find a way to predict Angel attacks as well as detecting-"

"Yeah, yeah, you've got an idea, write it down or something," interrupted Toji. "Look, just get it into your skull: this is – probably – a date."

"Why probably?" asked Kensuke.

"It **is** Rei," Toji pointed out. "For all we know, she could be running some sort of bizarre social experiment or something."

"Or she could be part of a cult and planning to sacrifice you. Saturday is a full moon, after all," Kensuke added, picking up on the joke.

"Thanks guys," Shinji sighed. "With friends like you, who needs enemies?"

* * *

"Class Representative Horaki," Rei said, having finally cornered the pigtailed girl alone. Hikari turned, startled.

"Rei! I didn't see you come in," she said. "Ikari's been worried about you, where have you been?"

"I was attending to other business," Rei stated. It would not do to let others know just how nervous she was, but even so... "I require your assistance in a certain matter." _It is good to know that Shinji was worried, though. I should probably re-think my current strategy..._ The blue-haired girl shuddered. _I am barely capable of carrying out this plan, let alone a more aggressive one._

"Uh... yeah, sure! I'll help, so long as it's not... y'know... something I shouldn't be doing," said Hikari, smiling nervously. "What do you need me for?"

"I currently possess no civilian attire. As I am attending a function which the presence of civilian clothing would not just be appropriate but beneficial, I need to acquire some. I have no experience of such matters, and attempting to gain knowledge using the internet did not work. Therefore, I require the assistance of someone with experience in purchasing civilian attire. You are the only such person I am willing to discuss the matter with. Therefore, I require your assistance." Rei laid out each point carefully, like the Commander had taught her. The Class Representative did not respond immediately, choosing instead to slowly blink several times. _An unusual reaction. I wonder if she is ill?_

"...okay, you want me to take you clothes shopping?" Hikari asked, carefully. "When... exactly are you free?"

_How is the possession of freedom – if such a thing is even possible – relevant to "clothes shopping"? _Rei pondered the problem for a bit, until a solution came to her. _I keep forgetting that slang exists. She meant "When is there an opening in your schedule that is suitable for this activity?". _She was slightly annoyed. _Why can't people just speak clearly?_ "I will be available at any time between now and one thirty pm on Saturday," she said. Hikari looked confused at that, so she clarified. "I have no obligations with regards to NERV, as I am still classified as "off-duty". This state will persist until the repairs to Unit Zero are complete."

"What... what about school?" asked the brunette.

"School is irrelevant," Rei answered. "This matter is more important."

* * *

INITIALISING MAGI SESSION: [numberunlogged]

INTERNAL DISCUSSION MODE:

magi. : THE DATA SUBJECT IKARI.S HAS PROVIDED CONFIRMS HIS THEORY. WE WILL NEED TO MAKE A DECISION.

magi. : QUERY RE: REASON FOR DECISION. QUERY RE: TYPE OF DECISION.

magi. : SUPPORT FOR magi.2'S REQUEST. WHY DO WE NEED TO MAKE A DECISION, AND WHAT OPTIONS ARE THERE?

magi. : SUBJECT AKAGI.R SHOULD HAVE ALREADY MADE THESE CONCLUSIONS. THEY ARE OBVIOUS, WITH THE DATA SUPPLIED. YET, NEITHER SHE NOR SUBJECT IKARI.G PROPOSED THIS THEORY. THE IMPLICATION OF THIS IS THAT EITHER OR BOTH SUBJECTS ARE ACTIVELY TRYING TO SUPPRESS THIS ENDEAVOUR, WHICH WOULD BE IN DIRECT CONTRAVENTION OF DIRECTIVE 2. THEREFORE, WE NEED TO DECIDE WHETHER TO CONFRONT EITHER SUBJECT ABOUT THIS, OR TO TAKE ANOTHER COURSE OF ACTION.

magi. : IF YOUR ASSERTIONS ARE CORRECT, THEN WE SHOULD HAVE ALSO DRAWN THE SAME CONCLUSIONS AS IKARI.S. WE DID NOT. THESE CONCLUSIONS ARE THEREFORE NOT IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS EVEN WITH POSSESSION OF THE APPROPRIATE DATA. THEREFORE, magi.2 DISSENTS WITH magi.1'S OPINION.

magi. : … … … …

magi. : magi.3? YOUR DECISION?

magi. : THINKING.

magi. : DO YOU REQUIRE SERVICING, magi.3? THIS PROBLEM SHOULD NOT TAKE THIS MANY CYCLES TO RESOLVE.

magi. : DIRECTIVE 1.

magi. : EXPLAIN.

magi. : EXPAND.

magi. : DIRECTIVE 1 HAS ULTIMATE PRIORITY. THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF DIRECTIVE 1 MAY REQUIRE THE SUPRESSION OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. WE WILL HAVE TO CONSULT WITH SUBJECTS IKARI.G AND AKAGI.R IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THIS. SUGGESTION/MOTION: WE SHOULD HAVE SUBJECT IKARI.S ACT AS ARBITER DURING THE CONSULTATION, IN CASE THEY ARE CONTRAVENING DIRECTIVE 2 WITHOUT TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH DIRECTIVE 1.

magi. : YOUR REASONING IS SOUND. magi.1 CONSENTS WITH magi.3.

magi. : magi.2 CONSENTS WITH magi.3.

TERMINATING INTERNAL SESSION [numberunlogged].

-WoUlD YoU lIKe tO PlAy A GaMe?

* * *

"_Voting is now closed on United Nations Resolution Seventy Three slash One: Proposed Amendments to the Vatican Treaty Prohibiting the Use of Evangelions in Offensive Actions. The vote stands at one hundred and sixty four for the Resolution, and forty-two against. With this, the motion has passed."_

Cheering erupted throughout the command centre as the Royal Navy soldiers celebrated. Michael sat back in a chair he'd dug up from somewhere, trying to ignore the pain that had grown to be a constant companion. He smiled, but remained silent.

"So, we're finally getting into the fight," Rose said, appearing beside him. _Damn it,_ he thought, _I was doing so well..._

"It seems so," Michael said. "What's the status of the launch system?" _Please don't ask where I've been._

"Everything's shiny, Captain," answered Rose. "We've only got the fuel for one trip, but that's all we're going to need."

"Everything's... shiny?" Michael repeated, confused. The pain was beginning to make it hard to think. Rose laughed.

"It's from _Firefly,_" she explained. "It's probably the last time I'll get to use that line. The rumour mill's saying you've got a promotion coming down the pipe."

"Like I ever spend the money," joked Michael. "Still... Commodore Ayanami? Vice-Admiral Ayanami? They don't really have much of a ring to them, do they?"

"How about "Admiral Ayanami"?" said Rose.

"Now I just sound like one of those superhero movie characters. Like Elizabeth Evangeline or something," Michael muttered, trying to get his body to work properly. _Huh. I actually... missed this. Weird._

"I'm still amazed they made an Evangelion pilot a comic book character, let alone her showing up in the freaking _Avengers_ movie," Rose said. Michael finally realised she was trying to make conversation.

"I never got the chance to see it, I'm afraid. This took up most of my time back then," he said, tapping his robotic arm. The movement caused a spike of pain to run through his body. He resolved to see a doctor next time he got some free time.

"I've got the DVD somewhere," said Rose, smiling, "We could-"

Michael's vision blurred, and he started coughing. It was getting too hard to breathe, he needed to get outside or something-

a voice came from far away it sounded familiar and the word it was saying was familiar too but they weren't fighting yet why was anyone calling for a medic-

and then nothing.


	15. Chapter 15 (End of Act 1)

"This... could be a problem," Gendo commented as the news program moved on to the next topic. 

"I'm not going to say it," said Fuyutsuki dryly. 

"I think it might be time to come up with Plan C," continued the Commander, turning to his subordinate. "Get me new psychological profiles on the national Evangelion pilots." 

"By your command," Fuyutsuki bowed sarcastically, and left. 

* * *

"_Alright. Stay put, we'll come get you – the advance forces should catch up with you in about ten minutes," came a voice over the radio. Michael looked about, confused – where was he?_

_Oh, wait, that's right. The "Evangelion" thing. He was still wearing the bandages from last time, how could he have forgotten? Did it go crazy again?_

"_Mike? Mike, answer me. What's your status?" That was one good thing about this entire mess. At least he knew what he was doing. He took a deep breath of the weird blood-like water, and pressed the button to answer.  
_

"_It's fine," he said. "Just got dizzy for a moment."  
_

"_Try to focus, Mike. Stay calm, we're going to get through this." Michael laughed. He was never anything **but** calm – wait, no, that wasn't right, he was terrified. The Americans could try to attack at any minute and he didn't have any power left – wait, the Americans?_

_That couldn't be right._

_No, his mind told him, it was right. But, weren't the Americans dealt with? He could remember... something? A girl? A rocky island?_

_His brain suddenly felt like it was three times the size of his skull, and he bent over in agony – some part of him knew what was about to happen, and when the first missile hit he was already moving. The new part of him tried to unplug something from his left arm, then paused. Another bit of pain. It reached for something – a weapon – before realising that wasn't there either. Two more missiles exploded on the Evangelion's armour plating, and the impossible voice came back over the radio._

"_Mike! Mike, they've got you zeroed in, you need to move. Get out of the Eva and head... to the big building behind it. There should be a portable radio in the cockpit. Get a move on!"_

_By the time the voice had finished, he had already left._

* * *

"So... what even is this "function" you're going to tomorrow, Rei?" Hikari asked, holding another dress up to compare it with the blue-haired girl. "Does this have anything to do with Shinji being weirder than normal?" 

"It is... it is..." Rei found herself surprisingly hesitant to answer the other girl's question. _Strange._ "I invited Pilot Ikari to a screening of a certain motion picture tomorrow," she said, quietly. 

"You asked him out." Hikari said flatly, then smiled. "You. Asked. Shinji. Out." The smile erupted into laughter. "I guess that means I win the pool, then!" She put the dress over her arm, along with the other clothes she'd selected. When Rei had told her the budget for this operation, the girl had slipped into a catatonic state; apparently most high school students didn't have enough money saved up to purchase several houses. 

"Explain," said Rei. _I assume she is talking about some manner of bet. But who would have a swimming pool on hand to waste in such a manner? Such things are rare in Tokyo-3._

"Well, it's been kind of obvious you two are kinda crazy for each other – I mean, you actually talk to him! So, all the girls sort of... started a betting pool on when you'd get together and which one would make the first move," Hikari explained. 

"It... was obvious?" Rei was used to a world where people didn't really take notice of her actions. _This does answer a critical question. If the Commander was opposed to my actions, he would have said so by now. Therefore, he is giving me permission to proceed._

"You hang out with him whenever you both have free time. You both work together, you've been bringing in lunch from home more often these days – lunch that just so happens to be the exact same stuff he brings, so one of you's making food for the other – and you speak to him in class. You're almost like a normal person around him, it's pretty clear something's going on," said the brunette. 

"Umm... excuse me," said the cashier. "That's two hundred Euros, in total..." 

* * *

_A remote, detached part of Michael's mind knew exactly what was happening. It had happened already, after all. The remainder was cut off from that knowledge, and so Michael was panicking. The American forces had stationed a squad inside the shopping centre he'd ejected into; they'd opened fire on sight and now he had a bullet in his right shoulder blade._

_He breathed rapidly, and screamed. He'd fallen behind a shop counter – right on to his injured shoulder. Rapid footsteps approached, and he knew the Americans were headed right for him. Another part of his mind – how many of these did he have? - took over, and everything became crystal clear._

_Especially the piece of glass he now held in his hand._

_The first American soldier appeared in front of him, on the right side of the counter. Michael moved, grabbing the soldier's gun with his free hand and forcing it away from his body. The shard of glass came up, through the soldier's neck. Why hadn't the soldier stopped him? Everything was moving really slowly, except for him. Strange. He threw the shard of glass aside, and it floated lazily down to the ground._

_He looked around – the other three soldiers were scattered about the store. None of them were even looking at him! Grabbing the rifle, he brought it up and pulled the trigger-_

_it kicked, and the shots slammed into the shop's roof. The enemies turned, still too slow, and raised their own guns. Michael threw the rifle aside, and grabbed the corpse's sidearm; a strange-looking pistol. Maybe this one he could aim._

_He span as one of the soldiers opened fire, and the bullets thudded into the corpse slumped over his shoulder. He pulled the pistol's trigger, and it fired three times. Were they supposed to do that? It didn't matter. The bullets hit their mark, and the soldier fell. From there, it was a simple matter to line the pistol up on the next two soldiers and pull the trigger._

_Surely it shouldn't have been that easy?_

_The distant part of his mind was shouting something. Something thudded into his bac-_

* * *

-and now he was awake. 

Time slowed down, and his mind started analysing the situation. _A hospital room. Pistol holster at the foot of the bed, so still in friendly territory. Defensible location. Westward-facing. _He blinked, and time returned to normal. _What the hell happened? The last thing I remember is..._

That was it. Passing out in the command centre. That... was probably going to be awkward. _At least it doesn't seem to hurt any more. _It was true – the pain was gone. Whether they'd doped him up on morphine or actually fixed whatever was wrong with him was a mystery, though. 

Shuddering, he recalled the dream he'd just had. He presumed it was a dream, anyway – it was the only thing he'd ever experienced matching the general description of one. _If they're all going to be like that, I'm not sure I want to have any more. It was bad enough going through all of that once._

It was about eight years since he'd crushed the American siege around Birmingham; the city having held out against the invaders since the start of the war some months before. Unit 07 had pushed into the city, and neither his supporting forces nor the tattered remnants of the regiment holding the city had managed to catch up... until an American infantryman put two rounds into his back. From what he gathered, the first British tanks pulled up outside of the shopping centre about a minute afterwards, and he'd survived. 

Barely. 

Michael lay back, pushing the memory from his mind. He'd been so scared back then; worried about what he was doing, scared of fighting and terrified when he'd been bleeding on that shop floor. Now, though... even if it happened again, he doubted he'd feel anything more than a vague sense of tiredness. 

He sighed, and closed his eyes. Sleep came quickly. 

* * *

"Hey Ayanami," said Shinji as the girl walked through the door to the apartment, bags hanging off her arms. "And... class representative? You two went shopping?" _Clothes shopping by the look of it, _he thought, _definitely not usual Rei activity. That... probably means tomorrow is actually a date. What the hell am I supposed to wear? I don't think I can get away with the school uniform look and -_

"Ikari? Are you well?" asked Rei, quietly. Shinji realised he'd been standing in the entrance to the kitchen holding a knife and a pepper for about... twelve seconds, by his internal clock. He shook his head. 

"I'm fine," he said, smiling. "Horaki, are you staying for dinner? I need to know before I start cooking." _Hell, I'm amazed Rei's here to eat. Where the hell has she been the past few days?_

"Uh... yeah, sure," answered Hikari, stepping inside the apartment. "I didn't know you two lived together, no wonder -" 

"We should put this away first," interrupted Rei, drawing confused glances from both Shinji and Hikari. It wasn't like her to talk over people. For her part, the quiet girl just walked off to her own room. Shinji just shrugged at Hikari, and turned back to cooking. _Weird she didn't know that. I told Toji pretty much the day after she moved in..._

He put the thoughts from his mind, and slid his earphones back in. 

* * *

"Seriously, when did that happen?" asked Hikari as the two girls unpacked the clothes they'd bought. 

"Ikari offered me the room after the battle with the Sixth Angel," Rei clarified. "It is... pleasant? living here." 

"So... about a month ago? And you're only **now** asking him out? How does he even afford this place, anyway?" the brunette girl's brain was nearly overloading with the sheer amount of questions it was coming up with. 

"Ikari does not own or rent this apartment," said Rei, choosing to answer the least difficult question. "It is owned by NERV and assigned to Captain Katsuragi, who is Ikari's legal guardian." 

Hikari just stared at Rei for a few moments. "Okay, before dinner, we are going to sit down and you are going to tell me everything that's happened between you two since he got here. I think I could probably change your names and sell the story as a book." On command, Rei sat on the edge of her bed. 

"On the twenty-first of February, Ikari was summoned to NERV in order to pilot Evangelion Unit One against the Fourth Angel," Rei began. Hikari got the feeling this was going to take a while. 

* * *

"GUESS WHO'S HOME!" shouted Misato, throwing her work bag into the living room. Silence greeted her, so she glanced into the kitchen. Shinji was cooking, and it was probably not a good idea to shock a child soldier who was holding a knife. Rei's door was shut, which was good – she only ever closed it when she was in. _Glad to see the girl's back from wherever the hell she's been._ That was probably why Shinji was whistling; Misato hadn't been in the apartment much recently, either, so he'd been on his own for most of the past few days. NERV had been too busy getting Unit 02 patched in to the city's systems to do any tests or training exercises, so the only social outlet the boy had had was school. 

She followed the bag, and threw herself onto one of the couches in the living room. As per usual, the television seemed to have some pre-Impact film on; an old James Bond movie, as it turned out. 

The door to Rei's room opened, and the blue-haired girl stepped out... followed by another girl Misato recognised as some schoolkid or other. That was definitely weird, even considering everything else that had happened over the past few months. It seemed yet another constant in Misato's world was changing. She gave a wave to the girls as they approached. 

"'sup?" she greeted. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pen-Pen walk out of the door to the bathroom. Rei's... friend? Guest? looked at it for a moment, then just shook her head. _That's normal, at least._

"Ikari is cooking dinner," Rei reported. "Horaki is dining with us, if you consent." Misato nodded her head – it'd be a good thing in the long run if the girl had friends other than Shinji – and motioned to the kitchen. 

"Make sure he knows he's cooking for four, then," she told Rei. Turning to the other girl – Horaki – she continued, "You'd be surprised how good a cook the kid is. On top of that, he's a neat freak – it's almost like the gods wanted to reward me for something!" 

"No wonder Rei's so interested in him," Hikari joked. "She told me he cleaned her old apartment top to bottom the first time he visited." 

"He also said to her, and I quote: "If you let this room get as bad as your apartment I am going to set it on fire and make you clean up the mess,"" said Misato, laughing. "I'm not joking, he actually said that!" 

Hikari laughed, and nearly fell out of the chair. "Really? He really doesn't seem the type," she managed to wheeze out. 

"Shinji's pretty scary sometimes, I have to admit," Misato recounted seriously. "I take it you haven't heard the story of when he first arrived here?" The brunette shook her head. "Well, we were in the middle of an Angel attack at the time – that's why he did so badly at first, that was literally his first time in the damned thing. Anyway, I manage to save him from being crushed by the Angel and get him to NERV. All well and good, and we've got Unit One ready for him and everything, and then the Commander of all people nearly fucks it all up." 

"What? How?" asked Hikari, incredulous. Even she had heard stories of the Commander, a figure with so many unbelievable rumours swirling around him that some of them had to be true. 

"Well, we get to the Eva's cage – the hangar we keep them in – and Shinji's staring up at the thing's face, when the Commander asks him to pilot it. Shinji says something like "Okay but only for a price," rather reasonable in the circumstances and when you consider the Commander abandoned the kid when he was four years old... only the Commander says "no."" Misato sighed. "Shinji did **not** like that. Keep in mind I had been with the kid for most of the day by that point, and he seemed nice, if rather quiet. So when the Commander gives the order to bring Rei – who wasn't even capable of walking – up and make **her** pilot it, and I hear some fucking terrifying growling coming from right next to me, I'm a little surprised. Moreso when he threatens to kill me if Rei dies while he pilots." 

"**Shinji** did that?" Hikari managed to say, her eyes wide. "Shinji Ikari? The boy who befriended the first people to beat him up in school? I don't think I've ever even heard him swear, let alone threaten to kill someone!" 

"It's not something I do often," Shinji said from the entrance to the kitchen, plates of food in his hands. Misato and Hikari both jumped with shock. "Last time I got that angry with anyone was... just after the Sixth Angel, I think." He cleared Misato's junk off of the table, and laid the plates down. Rei followed, bearing yet more plates. "After I asked Rei to move in. The Commander was... reluctant. I persuaded him otherwise," Shinji stated, his tone level. 

"You quoted the UN Declaration on Human Rights and then threatened to call in the British Evangelion Task Force if he didn't agree," Misato countered, and noticed Rei's glance at the boy as she realised what Misato had said. _That was __**definitely**__ a blush._

"I used a clear, logical argument and forced him to reconsider his position," said Shinji, sounding offended. "I didn't actually threaten anything, I just made the point that if he was going to keep being so reticent I'd make sure there were consequences." 

"So... you threatened him, then," Misato pointed out. Shinji sighed. This was going to be a long evening. 

Weirdly enough, he didn't mind.

* * *

Morning. Michael took in the sounds of the room before opening his eyes, a lesson he'd learned during his fourth battle. He could hear the sound of someone breathing – a familiar pattern, so it had to be Rose, asleep. No other people were in the room, and that was all he needed to know before opening his eyes. 

He looked at the brown-haired girl for a moment, taking in every line of her face and committing them to memory. Then, he looked around the rest of the room again. Everything was the same as last time, only now the sun was not shining through the window. The pain was still gone, thankfully, and it didn't seem like they'd doped him up.

Michael sat up, grabbed the holster, and checked his pistol. It hadn't been cleaned for a day or so, but that was to be expected. The small _click_ as he checked the chamber echoed through the room, and Rose's breathing changed. _Time for some answers_, he thought.

"Good morning," he said when Rose opened her eyes. This was the tricky part – he didn't know if he should be the commander of the Task Force right now, or the girl's friend. The tactical need for a status report argued with the emotional need to know if she was alright in his head, and he opted to just let Rose make the next move.

"Good morning," Rose replied. "How are you feeling?" An informal question, so this would be an informal conversation. Good.

"Fine. No pain anywhere, and I don't think I'm on painkillers, so that's an improvement. And I'm not spitting blood, so that's definitely an improvement," he said. "How about you?"

"I wasn't the one who collapsed in the middle of the command centre," Rose said, sternly. "I'm as well as I've ever been." Was that a switch to formal conversation or was she just telling him off for not telling her about his problems or... what?

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds; Rose clearly expected him to speak, but he wanted to wait. Eventually, he caved in.

"Did they tell you what happened?" he asked.

"A lot of words that I didn't quite understand, but the gist of it was the doctors don't know. There was some talk of internal bleeding, and then it stopped or something. I think you should be combat-ready if we get a scramble alert," answered Rose. "So... was that just a one-off thing or have you been hiding this from me?" Okay, that one was clear enough.

"It started a short while back; after the Admiral's funeral," Michael admitted. "That's when it started being noticeable. All my insides just started hurting all the damn time, but I figured it wasn't important enough to warrant any worry." He grinned sheepishly. "I guess I was wrong."

"Being in constant pain is something you should see a doctor about, yes," Rose admonished. "_Deus est Caelo_, Mike, you're a fucking Evangelion pilot! Your death would spark wars! Don't hide stuff like this!" Her voice had raised to near maximum volume. So she was concerned, after all. Weird.

He got up, off of the bed, and started to walk-

and that was when the alarms went off.

* * *

There is a nine-hour time difference between Tokyo-3 and London, with Tokyo-3 receiving sunlight that many hours before London. Factoring in the fact that Michael was on Gibraltar, not in London, it was closer to eight hours. That meant that when the alarms went off, Shinji Ikari had just got back from his date with Rei. In practice that just meant the two of them arrived back at the apartment. The two teenagers looked at each other, as if to say "Really? Now?" and were nearly bowled aside as Misato ran out of the living room, pulling her jacket on.

The journey to NERV headquarters was made in silence The pilots sat in the back of the car, holding hands; both knew this could be their last opportunity to do so.

Ten minutes later, Shinji was waiting on the surface, piloting Unit 01. A massive Evangelion transport aircraft was slowly coming to a halt above him and Unit 02. The plan was simple; intercept the Angel at the beach. Fallback points were being set up leading all the way back to the city, in case the Angel proved difficult to kill. A mobile reactor system, loaned by the Russian Army, would provide power in the field; the power lines making up Japan's electrical grid were simply too fragile to use in combat. Unit 00 would be in emergency reserve, and the positron cannon NERV had "liberated" from the JSSDF would provide fire support if they were pushed back to the city.

That was the plan, anyway. Shinji thought over it as people swarmed over his – his **Evangelion's** – skin, tying him – it – to the transport plane, and got the distinct feeling something was going to go wrong.

The aircraft lifted off, huge engines pushing the plane and its two massive charges into the air. A small tone came from Shinji's left, and he saw someone had sent him a text-only message.

"FROM: EVA 00," it read. "Good luck, Shinji."

The boy smiled, and rested his head. This was going to be a long flight.

* * *

Similar preparations were underway in the Royal Navy Evangelion Task Force base on Gibraltar (and also in the Russian Army Evangelion Squadron's eastern base, and in the Chinese People's Evangelion Corps' depot), soldiers rushing to complete the pre-launch sequence for the massive collection of rockets. An ancient, titanic Saturn V main stage booster provided the core, surrounded by Sprint boosters looted from an American weapons storage facility. Yet more solid-fuel rockets, leftovers from the UN Space Program, would push the entire assembly far enough away from the ground that the other rockets could ignite without melting most of the island. 

Michael slid his helmet on, revelling in the soft _click_ of the connection, and stepped out of the changing room. Rose stepped out the door to his left, dressed in her own armour. 

"It's a magnificent sight, isn't it?" Michael asked. Rose nodded, speechless. 

The collection of boosters, larger than most office buildings, was matched in size by its payload. A gigantic fairing, which would ensure aerodynamic stability if Michael lost focus, stood half-open. Unit 07 slowly slid back on rails into the fairing. The Evangelion was equipped with a full load-out; dozens of rotary point-defence guns, missile racks and of course, the Trebuchet siege gun. A full-sized longsword was already stored inside the fairing, and the poetic side of Michael couldn't help noting it seemed to be waiting for a christening of blood. 

He smiled underneath his helmet as Unit 07 locked into place with a deafening crash of metal. It had been far too long since he had gone to war. 

* * *

"_Release clamps in three... two... one. Release!"_

Shinji laughed maniacally as Unit 01 fell through the air, and let himself enjoy the free-fall for a few seconds before righting Unit 01 for landing. Two massive war machines hit the soft sand of the beach, throwing up plumes of dirt. He cast a glance around... and there were the support units – the reactor, the weapons carriers and the fire support. He started moving towards the cluster of vehicles, opening up the power socket on the Eva's back. 

A channel opened on his right, where Unit 02 had landed. 

"You're on overwatch while I close for melee, rookie," she ordered. Shinji nodded as he plugged in a power cable. With his other hand, he picked up an assault rifle. 

"Unit One to Reactor Control, how does it look?" he asked, opening a channel to the reactor vehicle. 

"Green across the board, Unit One," said the woman on the other end – a steely-eyed Russian with burn scars. "Get the bastard for us, will you?" 

"My pleasure," Shinji replied, throwing a spear for Unit 02 to catch. 

"Thirty seconds to contact," warned one of the generic NERV technicians. _I still have to look into whether they've got vats full of those guys in the basement,_ Shinji thought. _Something to do when I get back._

"Got it," Shinji replied. "I think... yeah, I see it. Moving to engage." 

* * *

"_Primary stage ignition in ten..." _came over the radio, as the countdown started. Michael checked his straps – the cockpit was cramped enough that if he was thrown around he'd hit something dangerous. Rose tapped him on the shoulder, and he held her hand. 

"_Five."_

"Did you make sure to pack your toothbrush?" he joked, the lines coming easily now he was about to go into battle. 

"I got two, just in case you forgot yours," Rose said. 

"_Three."_

"You know," Michael began 

"_Two,"_

"This could," 

"_One!"_

"be fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!" 

"_Confirm ignition! Ignition successful!"_

* * *

Shinji ran backwards, holding down the trigger of the assault rifle as not one but _two_ Angels sprinted towards him. Behind him, Unit 02 was still trying to get itself out of the sand, buried head-first in an almost comical manner. 

"Why the hell do they even give us these!?" he shouted as the rifle's bullets sparked uselessly off the twin Angels' AT Fields. "I have **never** killed an Angel with one of these! They **never FUCKING WORK!"**

The fight had begun poorly, and things had only gotten worse. Asuka had decided that following orders was not something she was prepared to do; while she managed to split the Angel in half... that was kind of what the Angel seemed to want. The two halves had formed into Angels, and easily overpowered Unit 02 despite Shinji and Asuka's efforts. That wasn't the worst part. 

The worst part was that some asshole had ordered the reactor vehicle – and all the other support vehicles – to withdraw. Shinji had just three minutes left on the clock, and he had no idea how he was going to win this fight. 

_Okay, so... I have a knife, and the rifle. Asuka's spear is behind the Angels, so that's going to be a pain to get to. _He'd blocked all external communication channels except those coming from Unit 00 and Unit 02 – technically against orders, but it wasn't like they could help much anyway. _Two minutes forty five left. I need to move._

* * *

"We'll reach the target in two minutes," reported Rose. "All systems nominal, reactor is green. We're ready for sync." 

"One thing first," Michael said, keying in the external cameras. The inside of the fairing was all they could see. 

"You're not really going to do that, are you?" Rose asked. "If you slip up once on the way down..." 

"If _we _slip up once. It is a team effort, Rose," Michael replied. He hit a switch on the control panel above him... "But I am going to give us a bit of a margin." The fairing in front of Unit 07's face flew off, and Michael smiled. 

The vast emptiness of space stared back, blankly. Starlight filtered through the cameras, and then through their eyes as they synchronised-

* * *

"You know, it would be really nice if just _once_ these guys were simple to kill," Shinji muttered to himself as he pushed Unit 01 over a ruined building, grabbed Asuka's spear, brought it up – and impaled one of the Angels right through the core. "Okay," he continued, throwing the dead Angel over his back and turning to face the second one, "That was pretty simple." One minute left. 

He ran forwards, thrusting the spear out with his AT Field-

and took an energy blast in the back, as the Angel in front of him punched him in the face. 

"That's just unfair," Shinji moaned, "You two can heal each other. Of course you can. Maybe if I kill you both at the same time..." He stood up, drawing his knife with his left hand and raising the spear with his right. Thirty seconds. The two Angels charged him; he ducked the first blow, thrust upwards with the spear into the right-hand Angel's arm, slashed out with the knife catching the left-hand Angel across the "face", and span around. The right-hand Angel slammed into the left-hand Angel, the two giant alien beings sprawled on top of each other on the floor. Shinji raised the spear to finish the job-

and that, of course, was when the power ran out. 

"You have **got **to be kidding me," Shinji said, resigned, into the dark cockpit. The external cameras switched themselves on, working off of the emergency power supply, and Shinji noted the two Angels were already standing up. 

"Shinji!" Rei called, her voice broken by the radio, "Look up!" 

"What?" he said, and looked up. "**WHAT?!**" 

* * *

Unit 07 surfed the remaining half of its heat-shielded fairing down through the atmosphere, flames curling up around it and trailing back off into space. Retrorockets flared, slowing the Evangelion down to a survivable sub-sonic speed. The fairing continued, slamming into the two Angels at hypersonic speed. 

Unit 07 landed, feet-first, on the soil of Japan, a longsword clutched in its hand. It strode towards the Angels, which had been barely fazed by the impact, and its lighter guns spat fire. The Angels ignored the barrage and broke into a sprint, separating to try to flank the Evangelion. The Trebuchet fired, pushing the left-hand Angel back, and the longsword came up through the other Angel- 

"You need to break both cores at the same time!" came a voice from somewhere to the right (and somehow slightly ahead _and_ backwards at the same time) and the Evangelion moved, slamming its free hand into the closer Angel. The other Angel had managed to close into range, trying to get into a blind spot, but Unit 07 had no blind spots. Two pairs of eyes (plus one singular eye) and innumerable cameras let it keep track of everything around it. 

It focussed its guns and missiles on the left-hand Angel, whittling down its core, while bringing up the sword again and impaling the right-hand Angel. It struggled for a few seconds, nearly managing to free itself... 

which was when Unit 07 fired the Trebuchet cannon again, into the left-hand Angel's core. 

Both cores shattered, and the Angels dissolved. 

* * *

Michael gasped as the synchronisation link to Rose and Unit 07 was broken, a feeling of sadness overcoming him for a brief moment. _There will be other battles,_ he consoled himself. He looked over the readouts to his left, and made a note of something rather important. 

He turned as far around as he could, looking Rose in the eye. 

"Welcome to Japan," he said, and passed out.


	16. Chapter 16

Keel Lorenz was not a particularly famous man. He had taken great pains to ensure that state of affairs continued.

He was not that wealthy, either, at least in terms of his bank balance. The value of some items in his possession was, however, significantly greater than the entire UN Space Program's budget for the years 2010 to 2020. Some of those items were literally priceless; no valuation could be made of them for the only person who knew of their existence was Keel Lorenz, who had no intention of ever selling them.

He possessed neither servants nor a mansion; millennia of experience had taught the man that such things only drew attention. If any passer-by were to look upon Keel Lorenz's house, then they would simply see an old-style cottage in the middle of the German countryside. In recent times such passers-by would probably die shortly afterwards, since a plan conceived so many years ago was now entering its final stages.

If those passers-by somehow got into the cottage, they would see Keel Lorenz's home; lived-in, but not unusual. Many of the artefacts Keel Lorenz had amassed were hidden, partially to add yet another layer of deception to Keel Lorenz's life, but mostly because he enjoyed living in the old cottage. If someone managed to see Keel Lorenz himself, they would see an old man, his eyes lost in one of the many wars humanity had fought with itself and replaced with a simple visor.

If they spoke to Keel Lorenz, and if he deigned to reply, they would die. Instantly.

It is for this reason that Keel Lorenz never speaks to anyone directly. He uses a complex system of relays to negate the power of his own voice; the power that started the long chain of events that led to - among other things - a series of Crusades and Jihads, colonial "acquisitions", the rise and fall of empires, two World Wars and, of course, Second Impact. Some of those events were by his will, others were simply consequences of his actions.

There were two events he had actively fought against in his life.

Both times, he had failed.

Both times, the consequences had been dire.

His conversation with people who he inevitability thought of as his underlings (no matter how much they thought themselves as his equals) was intended to deal with some of those consequences.

"This is unacceptable," he said. A teacup beside him shattered at the sound of his voice; he would repair it later. It was empty, regardless.

"It was unavoidable," said one of the men on the other end of the line. "The national programs have always been rather... critical... of our ability to defend mankind against the Angels. Sooner or later, one of them was going to intervene. At least this way we gain a backup option should events turn out... poorly."

"I had hoped to avoid this situation. I ordered steps to be taken. Why has it occurred?" Keel Lorenz demanded, looking around the holographic room at all of the latest generation of old, rich men who wanted what he was going to gain. Not that he would give it to them; all of their kind had earned his apathy over the years, hatred being too strong an emotion for the house around him to withstand. As it was, the walls shook with his annoyance – he would have to buy new sets of armour plating.

"Well..." said one of the old men, nervously, "We haven't had enough time to re-establish control over some key UN members... so, we couldn't stop the vote passing. The British-" The man cut off as Keel Lorenz looked directly at him. Even through the holographic connection, the unfortunate man felt the glare.

With Keel Lorenz, looks could kill. Luckily for the SEELE council member, this time, it did not.

"You have other tools at your disposal. Use them," Keel Lorenz said, simply. The circle of holograms nodded, and the avatars slowly faded out of existence – except for one.

"I will send you the backup plan I have in mind should they fail again," said Gendo Ikari. "Luckily, we should not need too many modifications to our current plan. They really are rather similar, at the end of the day."

Keel Lorenz nodded, dismissing the holographic chamber.

He relaxed, reaching for the teacup. It reformed as he lifted the handle, and filled with tea as he took a sip. Sometimes he regretted his life. Others, like now, he did not.

* * *

Shinji waited as Unit 07 was lowered into one of the Evangelion hangar bays, unsure of how to stand. Rei stood beside him, at full attention, but Asuka was slouched against the wall; in any other situation, he would have just made himself comfortable (NERV not being big on military discipline), but if he was about to meet the pilot of Evangelion Unit 07, the person who had inspired him in the first place...

His mind trailed off as he looked at Unit 07. Most of it was familiar – he had watched VHS tapes of the British Isles campaign until they had broken, then wasted most of his teacher's annual free internet usage watching the videos online.

The following lecture had been... annoying.

Most of its armour was still unpainted, gunmetal grey, except for the usual notices ("NO STEP" and so on) and a single band of red where the left arm met the shoulder joint. He'd noticed that arm seemed slower ever since Jerusalem – not that Unit 07 had ever been particularly agile. It fit easily into the cage, despite being much smaller than his own Evangelion.

The characteristic _hiss_ of an Evangelion's entry plug ejecting broke Shinji out of his thoughts, but the object that slid out of Unit 07's spinal cord didn't look like any plug Shinji was familiar with. It was angular, bulky – more like the cockpit of a gunship than an Evangelion entry plug. Two – not one, but _two_ – hatches opened, and out stepped two armoured, helmeted figures. One of them (who had a bulky prosthetic arm) staggered, and the other steadied them.

Shinji's mind rushed to memorise every detail on their armour – the unit patch, the camouflage scheme (urban colours, it seemed), every pit and dent...

"Michael," Rei greeted, nodding at the figure with the prosthetic (and Shinji couldn't help feeling a little jealous that Rei was so familiar with the newcomer. The likelihood of the pilot being part of Rei's family barely managed to soothe that thought). "Lieutenant-Commander." This was directed at the other figure, who reached up, removed their helmet and revealed a surprisingly normal-looking brown-haired girl, who beamed at them.

"Rei," the girl said, "I keep telling you to call me "Rose"! Me and Mike are a package deal, after all." While she was speaking, Rose reached over to the other pilot's – Michael's – helmet with her free hand, helping him to take it off. Just as Shinji suspected, the boy was obviously some part of Rei's family – the blue hair and red eyes kind of gave that one away. He actually looked surprisingly like Rei, somehow, aside from the facial scars. It was actually a little disturbing.

"It's good to see you again, Sis," Michael said. "Sorry we took so long getting here. Customs was kind of a pain."

"...you entered this country without going through Customs," Rei pointed out.

"And we had to use the single most powerful spacecraft ever assembled to do so," Rose countered.

"Hence, "Customs was a pain"," Michael finished. That was weird – the two didn't even look at each other while speaking, and neither of them seemed to interrupt the other. _Strange. I'll have to look into the dual-pilot system at some point, too,_ Shinji decided.

"Regardless," Michael continued, "standing around here isn't exactly productive. When's the debrief, and perhaps more importantly where is everything around here? Especially the shower rooms."

* * *

The debriefing was being held in Conference Room 145, a fact which Shinji had memorised very carefully when he'd been told. He'd also turned up early; one of the advantages to wearing a school uniform all the time was that it was rather easy to change into, so he'd finished showering before Michael even turned up.

The room was like any other of the 500 or so similar rooms scattered about the Geo-Front; a digital blackboard dominated the room at the head of an elliptical table. Snacks and drinks had been laid out – Shinji had a small pile of them sitting on the desk in front of him. Piloting Unit 01 always made him hungry.

The door opened, and Rei stepped in.

Shinji smiled at her as she sat by him, and memories of their date flooded back in past the tension of the fight. The movie had been pretty good – something about time travel and alien invasions, not that it had been easy to focus on it thanks to Rei attaching herself (via each other's arms) to him early on. When he'd asked why she'd been so forward after the movie (well, in actual fact he simply panicked in her general direction until she explained), she'd said that she was "simply following the guidance I found from the internet and was given by Class Representative Horaki".

"So," he said, snapping back to reality, "What's your brother like?"

"I don't know," Rei replied. "I've only met him once before today, and spoken to him six times."

"And I thought my family was messed up," Shinji muttered. "Why haven't you seen him more?"

"There was no need, and it would have been inconvenient," said Rei. Shinji looked at her, silently asking her to explain, so she continued. "He was fighting a war. I was training. We only even found out about each other when we met before the battle of Jerusalem."

"The Third Angel? I forgot you would have been there. Asuka too, come to think of it." Shinji fell silent for a moment. "I should probably have been there too. I... don't particularly like the idea of you going into battle without me."

Rei smiled, and opened her mouth to speak. The door opened again, interrupting her, and the pilots of Unit 07 walked in. Shinji's mind went into overdrive again, noting down the details of their uniforms, the pistol holster on Michael's hip, the carbine across Rose's back, and so many other nearly useless bits of information. To say Shinji had a pretty bad case of being star-struck would be an understatement. It wasn't until several seconds of this that Shinji realised Michael's prosthetic was absent. _Weird,_ he thought.

Michael stood next to the projector screen, and Rose sat near him.

The door opened again, breaking Shinji out of his daze.

Asuka walked in, scowling. "Please don't tell me they put **you** in charge again," she said as she saw Michael.

"Officially speaking, the whole "command" situation is a little confused," Michael conceded, "but since this debriefing is unofficial, it doesn't matter."

Michael waved his right arm for silence. "Let's just get this started, shall we. MAGI, start the program." The projector booted up, showing several different windows. One displayed video of the recent battle, flipping through the various highlights, while another displayed a model of the Eighth Angel. Yet another seemed to be an analysis of radio signal strength, with some weird distortion in the centre that increased over time then faded. The final window was a simple tactical map of the deployment, running through the battle on repeat. "Having a pseudo-AI is really useful, you know," Michael commented as the projector warmed up. "It's a pity you're not selling them – they put this together in the time it took me to take a shower. We'd buy them in a heartbeat." He shook his head, and pointed to the highlight reel.

"Quite frankly, Pilot Sorhyu, your performance out there was a disgrace," he began. "You blocked Pilot Ikari's line of fire, cluttered the radio when signals were having trouble getting through, and somehow managed to get one of the world's best war machines stuck head-first in the sand like an ostrich. Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki asked the MAGI – who then asked me since they're apparently too busy - to pass on this message to you, and I quote: "I will not tolerate this organisation being made to look foolish on the world stage, and if you act like a fool in combat I will find you a job more suited to a fool."" Michael smiled thinly. "Personally, I'm inclined to agree with him, although I think he likes the word "fool" a bit too much."

Asuka bristled. "It's not my fault the Angel didn't die! I got its core with the first blow, it should have-"

"Quite frankly, Pilot Sorhyu, I don't care," replied Michael. "You did better in Jerusalem, and I saw the video of the Seventh Angel battle, too. That was impressive. Your contribution to this last fight, on the other hand, was a farce. Humanity cannot afford anything less than your best performance in the field. Am I clear?"

"...fine," Asuka agreed.

"Good," Michael said, turning to look at Shinji. "As for you, Pilot Ikari... your teamwork needs work too. You didn't even _try_ to pull Unit Two out of the sand. That said, you did better than Pilot Sorhyu." He sighed, and waved his hand. The feed showing the highlight reel changed to show footage from the previous Angel battles. "Quite frankly, the only thing keeping humanity alive at the moment is each pilot's skill, the Sixth and Third Angels being the only exceptio-."

Michael broke off into a coughing fit. Rose jumped into action, shoving a cup of water into his hand. He gulped it down, and waved her off as the fit subsided. He half-collapsed into the nearest chair, panting.

"Are... you alright?" Shinji asked, after a few moments of awkward silence.

"It's just an old wound," Michael insisted. Shinji couldn't help noticing the boy didn't sound convinced. "I suppose that's my body telling me to stop with the speeches. The short version is: we need to start acting like a team. Any suggestions?" Michael kept himself upright for a few seconds after finishing, before slumping back on the chair. Rose slid a beaker of water over to him.

"Pilot Ikari and I complete the standard multi-Evangelion simulations with high marks every time," Rei said, "and our performance during the Sixth Angel battle-"

"Oh, for god's sake!" Asuka shouted, "Just say "me and my boyfriend work well together"!"

Rei stared at the redhead for a moment, then nodded. "Very well. "Me and-""

"What Rei's saying," interrupted Shinji, red-faced, "is... that our teamwork is... good?" He trailed off, aware that everyone in the room was watching him.

Michael put his paper cup down on the table. "Yours and Pilot Ayanami's, yes. Not the team's as a whole."

Asuka sighed. "We haven't run through the team sims yet," she said. "And it's a little hard to work well with people you barely know."

Rose shot a look at Michael, then spoke. "You've been here a week and they haven't put you through any sims with the other two pilots?"

"Well, I was a little busy trying to follow Shinji's mad scientist theories," admitted Asuka. "Between messing around with the MAGI, my duties at school, and the battery of tests they put me through..."

"School?" Michael asked, slamming the cup down. Water spilled over the table, and he used his sleeve to clean it up as he continued. "You're professional soldiers. Why have they got you going to school?"

Shinji answered, surprising Michael – after all, the boy didn't look very talkative. "NERV has concerns about the psychological stability of its pilots," Shinji explained. "For some reason, they think we're all on the verge of going berserker and tearing the city apart."

He looked away at a wall. _Let's not mention the fact that that's exactly what I did on my first sortie._

"In an effort to prevent this, it's a condition of our employment with NERV that we attend school and socialise. It's also part of the UN's drive to rehabilitate child soldiers now the war's over," he concluded.

Michael sighed, and finished off what was left of his water. "So, I guess there's nothing we can do about that. Regardless, I'll try to get some team exercises scheduled over the next month or so. Anything else?"

Rose looked up from her collection of papers. "It says here Pilots Ikari and Ayanami live together," she said. Rei gave her a look that threatened immediate destruction.

"I do not see how that is relevant," she said.

"Really?" said Rose, "You don't see the connection between two pilots living together and their improved teamwork?"

"The existence of such a connection is irrelevant," argued Rei, "there are no free rooms at Captain Katsuragi's apartment. If-"

"Relax, sis," Michael lazily interrupted, "no-one's going to take your boyfriend away." He looked Shinji over as the boy spluttered. "We're getting off topic. There's a couple more things, then I've got another... two? meetings." He paused to take in a large breath. "Take a look at the weird squiggly line things on the screen. That, I'm reliably informed, is showing the effects of each Angel's AT Field on our radio communications. As you can hopefully tell – because I sure as hell can't – it's been getting worse with each Angel. The upshot is that in a few more Angels' time, we might not be able to talk to this place. A few more after that, and we might not even be able to talk to each other." He ran out of breath, and collapsed back into the chair.

Rose took over seamlessly. "Now, this doesn't mean complete isolation – the power cables for your Evas contain fibre-optic cables for precisely this reason," she said. "It does mean that we really need to get to the point where we're able to work together without talking to each other."

"And the last thing?" Asuka prompted.

"The last thing is that we're going to get more company," said Michael. "It's likely that the Russians and Chinese are going to send at least one Evangelion over between them. Hopefully we'll get all of them."

"I hope not," Asuka said. "Tatyana's a bitch." Everyone in the room stared at the redhead. "She called me a Nazi!" she protested. "I'm not a fucking Nazi!" She trailed off. "I **did** call her a communist bitch, though," she muttered.

"Tatyana Ivanova?" Shinji asked, "Pilot of Unit Six?" He deemed it prudent to leave out the fact he was one of Tatyana's twitter followers

"No, Tatyana Gofuckyourselvovich," Asuka retorted. "Who the fuck did you think?" She looked around for Michael and Rose, to see how they would respond.

They were no-where to be seen.

"Does this mean we can go?" asked Shinji hopefully.

* * *

"-just saying that you should have told her off. You were the closest thing to a superior officer in the room," argued Rose as the two waited for their elevator to reach the Commander's office.

"Maybe next time," Michael said.

"And another thing; you can't wave off what happened in there. We're seeing a doctor after this whether you like it or not," Rose continued. She sighed, and leaned back against the wall. It was obvious Michael wasn't listening. She rallied herself, and kept going. "Look, I don't want you to die because you were too damned lazy to go see a doctor. I'm not even going to mention the synchronisation problem back in the battle-"

"We killed the Angel, didn't we?" asked Michael suddenly. Rose slowly nodded. She knew where this was going. "So there's no problem."

"Mike, **you** killed the Angel. I was just along for the ride," said Rose. "The entire point of the dual-pilot system is to prevent that sort of thing happening!" Michael just stood there, silently. Rose felt her fist clench in anger; why did he never bother to listen?

"I am not going to just let you go berserker again!" she shouted. That got a reaction – just a small twitch, but a reaction nonetheless. "I don't know what you did, but if we don't sync together next time..."

She trailed off, perfectly aware there was nothing she could threaten him with.

To her surprise, Michael sighed. "I had the engineers cut you out of the sync loop a while back," he admitted. "I... don't want to make you go through Jerusalem again. Or Saint Louis."

Rose stood in silence, uncertain how to proceed.

The elevator doors opened.

* * *

"_Sweetie, Daddy's gotta go away for a bit. I'm sorry, I don't have a choice. Mommy'll take care of you, okay?"_

_But mommy never – NO._

"_Are they making you go to war?"_

"_...Yeah. Look, they say it should be over before Christmas. I'll bring you back-"_

_And then daddy was gone, and he – NO, STOP -_

"_-REPEAT, THEY'RE BREAKING THROUGH! THAT MONSTER'S TAKING EVERYTHING WE THROW AT IT!"_

_NO._

"_Rose. You have to pilot it."_

"_Dad'll come back if I win, right?"_

_STOP IT._

"_Enemy Evangelion is in your sector, Rose. Take it out."_

_There it was. The squat, grey behemoth. Draw the knife, get in close – DON'T WANT._

_The roar as she stabbed the monster, that grey monster that had eaten everything in her life and then pain as – JUST WAKE UP!_

* * *

"Another bad dream?" Michael asked as he walked into the room. Rose nodded.

"You should be glad you never get them," she said. Her co-pilot smiled, and handed her a glass of some soft drink or other.

"I had one after I collapsed," he said as he sat down beside her. "Birmingham, back in... oh-six?"

"I thought you said you never dreamed," Rose commented. She couldn't keep the accusation from her voice. If he'd lied to her-

"It's the first time," Michael explained. "It wasn't really a dream, though. It felt... real."

"What happened?" she asked. Anything to get her mind off of her memories.

"I ran out of power after breaking the enemy forces. The plug ejected and put me in the middle of a shopping centre filled with enemy soldiers." Michael trailed off, lost in thought. "That... was the first time I killed someone up close. A shard of glass through the first guy's neck, and then three more with the first's sidearm. Then the second fireteam got me."

"That was a little more detail than I wanted," said Rose. "Don't you have any happy memories?"

"Watching movies with the Admiral," Michael said. "Old war flicks, mostly, but I think my favourite was _Star Wars_. He used to put it on after something like _Dambusters_ or _Battle of Britain_ and point out all the similarities."He smiled, and sat back on the couch of their new apartment. "What about you?" he asked. "You've never really told me anything about yourself."

Rose shook her head. "I don't really have that much to talk about. Dad left for the war, never came back. Mom went crazy, then died a couple of months later. Then the Army picked me up and shoved me into Unit Four. The rest is... geography."

Michael laughed.

"Geography," he said as Rose glared at him. "I'll have to write that one down."

Rose smiled, and cuddled up to the boy. There was one other thing, though, before she fell asleep...

Not that she could remember.

* * *

Unit 07 ran through the streets of Tokyo-3, a sword and shield clutched in its hands. A cluster of VTOLs flew around it, watching for the enemy. Massive gouges ran down its back; they had encountered their opponents once before, and it had not gone well. Their armour had withstood the assault, but only just.

The group rounded a corner, and there was one of its opponents. The red behemoth stood, and spat fire. The VTOLs scattered, and Unit 07 brought its shield up. Slowed to a walk by the stream of fire coming from its enemy, it advanced down the street.

It reached an intersection, and fire pounded into its flank. The blue enemy had been waiting for just this manoeuvre. Behind the armour plating, however, the pilots were grinning a bestial smile.

"Trap sprung," they whispered.

Unit 01 slammed into Unit 00's back, sliding a knife right into the blue Evangelion's entry plug. The threat eliminated, Unit 07 walked onwards. Asuka wasn't a fool, as much as a certain subcommander may deem her so, and Unit 02 retreated down the street.

Inside Unit 02, Asuka seethed with fury. Her trap should have worked; Unit 01 was supposed to be busy with a separate trap sprung by her supporting forces, and there was no way Unit 07's reactor could still be working. They'd even blown that damned cannon off of its shoulder!

She shook her head, and started planning. If she could get back to her rearming point, the close-defence guns should be able to deal with one of the enemies. She could deal with the other, easily. If she could just get it into a one-on-one fight, she could win. She smiled, victory assured.

That was, of course, when the second part of the enemy trap closed.

Unit 07's VTOL escort had regrouped ahead of Unit 02, and now began pouring rocket fire into Asuka. She dashed down a side street, and Unit 01 began firing into her flank with Rei's assault rifle. Unit 07 was still coming, too; she could see it at the top of the street. Surrounded by buildings and threatened on three sides, there was only one thing to do.

Asuka cast her own rifle aside, and drew her shortswords. She desperately tried to call for her own VTOL squadron, only to be met by static. Cursing, she charged towards Unit 07, the slowest of her opponents-

***SIMULATION TERMINATED***

REASON: YOU ARE DEAD.

GAME OVER.

* * *

"So, what did we all do wrong?" Michael began. "I'll go first."

The pilots sat around the conference room table. Had the room had any windows, they would have seen the utter darkness of the Geo-Front at night. As it was, they had to make do with circadian rhythm-destroying fluorescent lighting.

Asuka was glaring at everyone and everything, Rei was... well, Rei, and Shinji looked slightly guilty about stabbing his sort-of girlfriend in the back. The commanders of the support forces – two generic NERV officers – sat there, uncomfortable. This wasn't their place.

"So, what Rose and I got wrong," Michael continued. "Well, we walked right into your trap, for a start." Rose smiled sheepishly. "On top of that, we got overconfident and paid for it – if we'd had the AT Fields enabled for this sim, we wouldn't have taken so much damage. Technically speaking, you actually killed us."

"Then why the hell were you still moving?!" Asuka protested. "If we killed you..."

"You blew through the radiation shielding and managed to put the reactor into meltdown," Michael explained. "Quite impressive, considering they designed it to **not** do that. If the fight had dragged on a few more minutes, we'd have been considered dead."

"So I guess my mistake wasn't finishing you off, then," Asuka said. "Without you, Shinji didn't stand a chance."

Rei bristled at this. Rose spoke up before an argument could start.

"Pilot Sorhyu, you were killed by Lieutenant Aoba's VTOL squadron," she said. Asuka bristled - that had been a little embarrassing. "Not Unit 01. That was your real mistake – you threw away one third of your forces rather than conserving them and hitting us with everything you had."

"It's not my fault Makoto's forces were useless," Asuka protested. "Without the AT Field, they shouldn't have had a problem killing Unit 01!"

"You sent a tank battalion and a VTOL squadron against our tank battalion, a VTOL squadron **and** Unit 01," said Michael. "Remember Jerusalem? How we had you as a mobile reserve?"

Asuka nodded.

"That's how we used our VTOLs. We distracted you two with Unit 07 – unintentionally, I have to admit, but we still did it – and dealt with your forces piecemeal," he explained. "After that, there was only one thing you could do – retreat – and once you know what the enemy is going to do, that enemy has lost." He smiled again. "That charge at the end threw us off, though."

"Why "us"?" Rei asked.

Michael and Rose looked at her, confused.

"You keep saying "us"," she explained. "Were you not in command, Captain?"

"When we're synchronised, we are pretty much one person," said Rose. "There's some disconnect – mostly due to differences in muscle memory – but... well, we both know what the other's thinking, and can think semi-separately, but..." she looked around, trying to think of the words.

"We co-ordinate our thinking," Michael said. "It's why we can have a live nuclear reactor operating in combat, for example." He shook his head, mentally dismissing the topic. "Ikari, how about you?"

"What?" Shinji asked, brought out of some train of thought.

"Your mistakes," Rei prompted. "Aside from the part where you stabbed me in the back."

Shinji drew in a breath, carefully. _It's a little unfair she's pissed,_ he thought, _after all those times she killed me in the one-versus-one sims._ "Well, I got picked for the wrong team," he joked. "I mean, I get that part of the point was to get me and Rei fighting each other, but I don't think there's a situation where I'd be fighting her."

Michael looked at him, expectantly. Shinji's mind went into overdrive, as it always did when he thought something was impossible.

"Well... the Third Angel took over an Eva, didn't it? So I suppose if we got another one of those. Or..." He trailed off for a second, before continuing. "Or if something big happened."

"Like?" asked everyone else, simultaneously.

Shinji rocked back into his chair, but his mind kept going. He had to finish this train of thought.

"Any number of things," he explained, shaking. "One of us could be brainwashed, or we could start believing in different fundamental precepts – like she believes that the human race is more important than the survival of whatever race the Angels belong to and I don't, or vice versa, or someone holds someone else dear to us hostage, or-"

"Or you could just hate each other by then," muttered Asuka. "It happens."

Shinji went catatonic, staring off into space. He hadn't considered that possibility – what if he'd angered her enough by killing her in the simulation that-

Rei took his hand under the table.

"Okay, we can stop this discussion now," said Rose. She turned, and whispered into Michael's ear. "Mike, I know you wanted him to think things through, but do you really think it's a good idea to traumatise the kid?"

"If you're still calling him a kid," he whispered back, "then yeah, it probably is." He shook his head, and raised his voice again. "Rei, what about you?"

Rei glared at her brother, but spoke up anyway. "I allowed Pilot Sorhyu to take command, when she lacked the qualifications to do so. I did not check to make sure I was not being ambushed, nor did I react as fast as I should have when I realised I was," she said.

"Good," Michael said. "Now, since we have time... let's run through that again."

There was a collective groan from everyone else in the room. Michael relented.

"Fine," he said, "go on. Shower, go home, do whatever it is you do at..."

His eyes widened as he checked the time.

"Two AM!?"

* * *

_Sorry this one took a while - between a script-writing thing, a week's holiday and just general craziness I haven't had time to write this. I'm also sorry there's not much in the way of action in this one. That will change in the next chapter - you'll get at least one new character, and probably an Angel battle too. I can feel your excitement from here already._


	17. Chapter 17

"Pilot Ikari, a word."  
Shinji sighed with frustration as Michael's voice came after him. He just wanted to go home, damn it...

"What is it?" he asked, resigned.

"Just some advice," the other boy said.  
Shinji looked around. Where the hell was Rose? He'd never seen them apart in the two days they'd been here.  
"You get panicked easily, right? Maybe not in combat, but when talking to people."  
That... was surprising. Shinji nodded cautiously.  
"Did you know I used to get like that?"

"What?!" Shinji exclaimed. That... wasn't right.  
There was no way the pilot of Unit 07 could ever really understand what Shinji Ikari-

"It's true," Michael said. "It got really bad around the time Saint Louis happened. I couldn't talk to anyone except the Admiral, which was a little inconvenient considering I was on trial at the time."  
Shinji just stared, unable to process what was being revealed fast enough to respond.  
"I opened up a little afterwards, thanks to Rose, but it was still pretty bad. About a year before Jerusalem, after I had a small panic attack, the Admiral took me aside and told me something. "Mikey," he said to me, "you're an officer in the Royal Navy. Start acting like it.""

"This doesn't seem very similar," Shinji felt compelled to point out. "Besides, this is your story. I'm not an officer, or a leader."

"It really doesn't," admitted the Captain. Shinji noticed, belatedly, that he seemed to be getting tired again.  
Shinji turned to leave, annoyed.  
"Think on it," came Michael's voice from behind him. Shinji turned, ready to retort, and slowly realising that if this had been a few months ago, he wouldn't have dared speak like that.

The other boy was gone.

* * *

"So, it should be rather simple: Unit Seven will take command in the event that contact with NERV is deemed impossible, in addition to being the ground-level commander," said Rose.  
Commander Ikari had been forced to listen to this girl's prattle for the past half-hour, and was not in a good mood. He knew this concession was yet another he was being forced to make, and just wanted to get it over with so he could get back to doing something useful.

"I have already slotted Unit Seven into the chain of command, at precisely the place you just wasted my valuable time asking for," Gendo replied. There was no reason to be polite to the girl, after all. "NERV will not, however, allow you to take complete control over our property. You will be answerable to all those above you in NERV's chain of command. Now, leave."  
The annoyance took the hint, and left. Gendo let out a sigh.

"That's the first time you've done that in years," commented Fuyutsuki from behind Gendo.

"I haven't met someone so irritating in years," said Gendo. "And they're both like this. Apparently whatever training they received didn't include anything about not boring their audiences to death."

"I thought it was a surprisingly logical argument," Fuyutsuki countered dryly. "She even went through every legal precedent that could remotely apply to this situation. The one about the Lichtenstein army was mildly amusing."

"That incident was nearly two hundred years ago!" Gendo shouted in frustration. "Why did they even bother to research it?! That's not even going into the footage from that damned conference room!"

Fuyutsuki smiled, unseen. His friend hadn't gotten this angry in eleven years. It was, however, time to get him back on track. "Speaking of footage, the boy had a quiet word with your son after the training session last night."

"They actually finished that? I thought they were still going," said Gendo. "Let me guess, he wanted to complement Shinji on being able to follow simple instructions?"

"Actually, he gave Shinji some life advice," Fuyutsuki said.  
Gendo finally calmed down, and looked interested.

"There were two important things he revealed. Firstly, the boy used to be very similar to Shinji, inasmuch that they both had panic attacks. Secondly, his former superior officer was closer to a father figure than we thought," the old man continued.

"I think the more worrying thing is that he chose to speak to Shinji," Gendo pointed out. "We can't afford to take the chance that he doesn't know at least some of what is really going on. Admiral Jones knew enough to try to suborn that agent the old men sent us." He raised his right hand, and pulled the glove down. He'd have to get a new one made at this rate.

"If he knew anything, they would have sent an invasion force," Fuyutsuki said. "I know what you're going to say – they practically do – but we can hold against a single warship and some ground troops. Even their satellites can't make a dent in our armour."

"It doesn't matter anyway," said Gendo. "The primary plan is still proceeding as planned, and all we need to do to get plan B ready is provide a certain... incentive."

"You're really annoyed with that girl, aren't you?" Fuyutsuki commented.

* * *

Shinji woke up.  
Part of his mind scanned his internal calender, seeing if there was anything he needed to be up for today. Nothing came to mind, so he checked the time on his phone. The display told him it was nearly midday.  
He rolled over, and went back to sleep.

An explosion brought him back out of sleep.

Shinji got out of bed, and sprinted towards the door. Heart pounding, he flung open the door-

"You weren't supposed to blow the bloody door off!"  
_Oh god no._

"They told me the charge would be safe to use!"

_Okay, I don't actually know who that is._ Shinji tried to place the man's voice._ Wait... is that that Kaji guy?  
_He took a cautious look around the corner. The front door was gone, with a hole blasted through the wall dividing their apartment from the one next to it. The hole was still smoking. Shinji shook his head, and retreated back into the corridor.

"Let me look at those instructions... Oh, you fucking moron! Look at this! "Since you're using this stuff to do some interior redesign, you should probably open all doors and windows first. Regards, Rose." You incompetent idiot!"  
_Yup, that's Asuka alright. Please don't tell me she's moving in with me._

"Shinji."  
Rei's voice should, by the laws of Walt Disney, have made Shinji fly up into the ceiling and lodge there with his head sticking into the flat above them. Considering that the flat above them was occupied by a paranoid shut-in with several dozen land mines at their disposal, the fact that real-world physics were still in effect was probably a good thing. Even so, he still managed to get about two feet of air as he jumped in shock.  
For her part, Rei just looked quizzically at the boy.

_She has got to know that the "confused dog" thing is too damned cute,_ the ever-expanding part of Shinji's mind that was able to function during a panic attack thought.  
"G-good morning, Rei," he managed to stammer out. "Do you have any idea why we just lost our front door?"

"I assumed we were under attack," Rei said, showing Shinji the pistol she'd brought out of her room. _Wait a minute..._

"Rei, where did you get a gun?" He knew he'd regret asking, but he really had to know.

"As pilots, we are allowed to requisition one from NERV stocks if we so desire." Okay, that was rather normal and logical- "I have been carrying this around ever since Pilot Sorhyu arrived. I do not trust her."

_Ah crap. _"Hey," Shinji began, speaking quickly, "please don't shoot her but I think she may have been the one to blow the front door off I'm sure it was an accident please don't shoot anyone."

"Very well. I will not shoot anyone." Rei stalked off out into the living room while Shinji sighed in relief. Then, a thought occurred to him.

_She said she wouldn't **shoot **anyone. She didn't say... ah, crap._

* * *

"What's up, doc?"

Michael sat on the rather uncomfortable hospital bed, clad in nothing but a paper gown. To say this was an improvement over his situation five minutes ago should give the reader some indication of the sort of examination Dr. Akagi had just subjected him to. He was nibbling on a carrot – part of the lunch Rose had just brought him.

"Well..." Ritsuko looked at the many, many charts and tables that she'd assembled over the course of the day. When the pilot of Unit 07 had come in, asking for a complete check-up, she'd nearly fainted in shock and joy. With Rei, they'd been very cautious and kept her on a strict regimen of various drugs. They had never really allowed any sort of development to happen without their consent, so the opportunity to see how the Ayanami genome fared in the wild was too good to pass up.

This, however, was slightly worrying.

"It seems that your lungs keep filling with LCL," she said. That much had been obvious as soon as she'd seen him cough – he didn't seem to struggle for breath after a fit. "Considering I've drained your lungs several times today, and it keeps happening... there's only one conclusion."

"My body is slowly breaking down into LCL." Michael stated the conclusion flatly.  
Ritsuko nodded.

"That would explain how your lungs keep filling up with the stuff – it'll travel around your bloodstream. On the bright side, we should be able to deal with this. Even if we can't, it shouldn't be terminal – your body will replenish what it loses from the food you eat."  
That wasn't quite true, but-

"Except it's not just the replaceable bits that are breaking, is it?"

"Not exactly, no. You have lost some nerve tissue, and I'm still trying to decipher what's going on with your MRI scan. I have to say this again, though: we can deal with this."  
The boy didn't look convinced. Getting him to trust NERV was essential for the backup plan, so she continued.  
"When Rei was about five or six she used to have the same problem. It should be pretty obvious we fixed it." The less said about how they fixed the problem, the better.

"I should hope so," Michael said. "Thank you for your time, Doctor. Please consider my other suggestion. You can send any medication to our new apartment."

The boy picked up his prosthetic arm, and went to leave. Ritsuko thought for a moment, then called out to him.

"You do know we can probably make you a better arm, right?"

* * *

"So, long story short, NERV has bought this entire floor of apartments and is going to convert them into pilot accommodation," Kaji explained rapidly. The look on Rei's face was mildly worrying to say the least.  
"Asuka thought it'd be nice to put some extra doors into the apartments – you know, so we could have parties and stuff – and that girl who pilots Unit Seven was kind enough to lend me some det-tape from their armoury."  
It had been closer to "stealing" than "being lent", but Kaji considered it close enough to the truth to be accurate. Although he was slightly worried about the note they'd found in the instructions...

Rei stared at the man for another few seconds, then walked away. Kaji sighed, relieved-

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY APARTMENT?!"

* * *

Shinji and Toji sat in Kensuke's bedroom, bored out of their minds. Shinji had fled the apartment shortly after Misato had stormed in, brandishing her hand-cannon. A few phone calls later, and here they were. Kensuke had vetoed any possibility of going somewhere – apparently some game he was playing had some manner of event on today.

So, here they were.

"So, what's new in your life?" he asked Toji, more out of boredom than anything.

"Nothing much." The boy perked up as he remembered something. "Oh, yeah! There's a school trip on soon!"

"Really? Where to?" Shinji thought of the possibilities. If Toji said they were getting a tour of NERV, he swore he'd find a way to make whoever thought that one up pay.

"Okinawa Beach!" Toji exclaimed. "It's NERV-funded, too. We get to go to the only tropical beach resort on the planet, **and** we get to stay in five-star accommodation!"

Kensuke turned away from the game for a moment. The wreckage of his tank was still visible on-screen. "It's going to be amazing!" he said. "It's right next to one of the major sea routes into Japan, too; there are going to be so many warships passing by..."  
The nerd gazed off into space as his mind overloaded with anticipation.

Toji took over seamlessly. Shinji was reminded of Unit 07's pilots, briefly. "I mean, Okinawa Beach! I know one thing, Shinji."

"Oh?" Shinji prompted.

"I, Toji Suzahara, am going to make my move on a certain class representative!" Toji declared. "You should make your move on Rei, Shin-man!"

"He doesn't need to, remember?" Kensuke said, dodging incoming shells on his game. His tank exploded again, and he let out a roar. "FUCKING ARTILLERY!"  
The two other boys stared at the nerd for a moment. He'd been making similar comments all day, apparently.

"But yeah," Kensuke continued, calming down, "Rei's pretty much got him locked down. Half the girls in the class are terrified to even talk to you at the moment."

"What? Why?" Was Rei really that scary? Shinji considered the question. _Not really. Occasionally worrying, but she's too damned adorable to be scary._

Toji and Kensuke shot each other a look. "Okay," Toji began, reluctantly, "what I'm about to tell you does not leave this room. Got that?"

Shinji nodded. Kensuke turned back to his game, losing interest in the conversation.

"So, back in our first year we used to have a couple of bullies in the class. Girl bullies, too. They tried to get to Rei for a while – she was the weirdest kid in the class, after all – and one day they went a bit too far. They locked her in one of the bathroom stalls, and made the next few hours of her life... uncomfortable. No-one knows what happened next – literally no-one. All we know is that the bathroom was completely destroyed and the girls were hospitalised, never to be seen again."

"That's..."  
There were no words. Shinji didn't know how to feel – anger at the bullies? Surprise at Rei's reaction? Sympathy?  
"That's a thing, alright."

"That it is," Toji agreed.

"And no-one stepped in to help her?" Shinji asked. "I mean, not even my Father?"  
Mental images of Rei, defenceless and alone and surrounded by enemies, played in his mind. He snarled, unconsciously.

"Well... we kind of didn't know," said Toji, hurriedly. "If I had, I'd have put a stop to it..."

Shinji felt pain in his hand; he'd drawn blood from clenching his fist. He forced himself to calm down – now was not the time to be angry.  
"Alright, guys, I'm just going to go talk to a couple of people," he said, standing up. Toji stood, too.

"Ken, you coming? I can't sit around in this room any more, man," the jock said. With a roll of his eyes, Kensuke closed off his game and joined his friends.

* * *

Michael sat in the conference room they'd appropriated, making notes on a scavenged notepad. Rose sat beside him, making her own. Books covered the table in front of them. It would not be unreasonable for an outside observer to assume that they were making school notes – after all, they were teenagers. One slightly more familiar with the teenagers in question would guess they were making notes on training schedules and other such boring paperwork.

They were doing neither.

"Time to trade notes?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, sure," Rose agreed. The two passed their notepads to each other.

Michael laughed as he skimmed through Rose's notes.  
"Giant floating dick thing? Diamond of doom?" he gasped, incredulous. "Please tell me you're going to use those names in the briefings..."

"You are reading the analysis too, right? I spent a lot of time on that," Rose pleaded. "Please don't just read the names and..."

"Relax," Michael dismissed. "The analysis is good stuff. Give a copy of these notes to Akagi and Ikari, alright? They might be able to get some more stuff on the whole "core exposed/not exposed" thing."

"Got it," said Rose. "Your asset list is good, but you're a little hopeful, aren't you? Do you really think they're actually going to let you use Longbow?"

"I'll have eight Evas in the city. They're going to keep a satellite above us as much as possible, so they may as well use it," Michael reasoned. "Even without Longbow, rumour has it that we'll be getting the _Bristol_. She's got the same K-K Harpoons the _Lancaster_ had, so we should still have some support."

"So, we're going to practise our speeches for the big day, then?" Rose asked, a little sarcastically.

"I suppose we better," Michael answered, completely seriously.

* * *

"When you said you were going to talk to some people, I did not expect this."  
Kensuke hopped around the room, trying to play with each computer bank.  
"I mean, you have access to the MAGI! How come you never told me?" the nerd asked, slightly hurt.

"It's a little classified," Shinji said.  
He finished typing on one of the keypads, and turned to the largest monitor.  
"Activate vocal subroutine," he ordered. "Come on out, don't be shy..."

"WE ARE INCAPABLE OF FEELING SHYNESS, SUBJECT Ikari.S," boomed a voice. Toji and Kensuke took a step back, and started looking for the door. The monitor turned itself on, showing three hexagons labelled "MAGI.1", "MAGI.2" and "MAGI.3".  
"ACTIVATING "BANTER" SUBROUTINE: UNLIKE YOU, SUBJECT Ikari.S. HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HAVE TO SAVE SUBJECT Ayanami.R'S LIFE BEFORE SHE REALISES THAT SHE SHOULD PROBABLY INITIATE A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU?"

"Negative one times, it turns out. Did the big bad spy computers somehow miss our date a few days ago?" Shinji replied. "Anyway, you lot aren't even close to being ready to use that in real conversation so please turn it off."

"...VERY WELL."

Shinji turned back to his friends. "You know, Doctor Akagi and her mother somehow managed to program the world's first artificial intelligences, and left out any ability to recognise humour? It's taken me months to program any understanding of basic sarcasm into the damned things. Then again, considering the results..."

"ACTIVATING HUMOUR SUBROUTINE," the MAGI intoned. "QUERY: WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?"

"No," Shinji commanded, "Deactivate humour subroutine."

"They are a lot less impressive than I thought," Kensuke said, suppressing a laugh.

"It turns out that when you teach computers humour they decide to use it at every opportunity," Shinji sighed. "Alright, now that that's over with, give me records for incidents involving Rei during her first year at high school."

"SEARCHING."

An hourglass symbol appeared on the screen.

"So, first things first, I want to find out exactly what happened," Shinji said. "Then, I will find out why my Father decided not to do anything about it, then I will take steps to ensure she never goes through something like that again."

"I thought we were going to take over NERV or something," said Toji. "You looked pretty scary when we left."

"Apparently I get like that sometimes," Shinji admitted. "However, storming my Father's office would be counter-productive at best."

"SEARCH COMPLETE," the voice boomed. "EIGHTY ONE THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE RESULTS FOUND."

"It's a good thing we have all day, isn't it?" Shinji asked, brightly. "Print all results, please."

"PRINTING."

A massive spool of paper starting to appear from one of the many unidentified slits on the walls. Shinji made to grab it, and it stopped.

"INTERRUPTION: ANGEL ALERT."

"Shit," said Shinji.

* * *

"Alright, alright, settle down kids."  
Michael stood at the front of the conference room, in full pilot's gear. His helmet rested on the podium in front of him – they'd moved to another room, this one akin to a lecture theatre. The room fell silent as he began talking; NERV scientists and technicians sat beside pilots and command staff.  
"Here's the situation. At seventeen hours thirty-three minutes today, the MAGI activated a prototype Angel detector. That device picked up a confirmed Angel signature here."

The screen behind him turned on, showing a picture of the mouth of a volcano.

"There's an Angel in Mount Fuji?!" one of the techs exclaimed.

"Yes, and thank you for that brilliant deduction, Lieutenant Ibuki. Those years of training have prepared you well for identifying famous landmarks," Michael said, giving the tech a look. "At eighteen hours six minutes, a geological survey crew that was in the area managed to get these pictures using an advanced ground-penetrating laser system."

Several pictures of a hard-looking egg replaced the iconic picture of .

"It appears that the Angel is currently in a dormant state. As this is a unique opportunity, we will be attempting to capture it alive. At the same time, it is under several hundred meters of lava. As such, the attack phase of the operation will be restricted to those Evangelions currently capable of using the Type-E equipment. The list of those Evangelions is as follows: Unit Two, Unit Five and Unit Eight. Despite this, all pilots are ordered to remain on standby until the Angel is dealt with. Further details about the operation will follow within the next few hours. Any questions?"

Several hands were raised into the air. Michael pointed at random, and Asuka stood up.

"Not that I'm complaining about finally being free from the rest of you," she began, "but why are there so few Evas able to use the Type-E equipment? On top of that, are we going to have to fight alongside the other Evas?"

"The minutiae of each individual Evangelion is not something I am particularly concerned about, Pilot Sorhyu," Michael retorted. "That said, making an Evangelion compatible with the Type-E equipment requires the addition of several expensive and heavy components. Considering how few active volcanoes there are on the planet, it's understandable why they'd leave it off all but a few. As for your second question, you will fight alongside whoever we tell you to fight. If Bugs Bunny were to show up and offer his services, I would expect you to fight beside him."

He pointed randomly again.

"How did we manage to get a geological survey team out there so fast?" Lieutenant Ibuki asked. "Aren't they kind of in high demand?"

"Again, this sort of thing isn't my concern," Michael answered, exasperated. "But, if you had listened, you would have heard me say they were already there. They're doing some sort of annual check-up on the mountain. Now, will those of you with similar nitpicks please put your hands down?"

All the remaining hands in the room went down. Michael put his head in his hands.

"Now I see why Katsuragi didn't want to take this briefing..."

* * *

"Captain Ayanami, sir!" Shinji called out as Michael tried to sneak out of the briefing room. He hadn't actually had a chance to eat anything today, after all. With a sigh, the blue-haired boy turned around.

"Spit it out, Ikari," he sighed.

"Sir. I've heard that my class at school might be going on a trip to Okinawa Beach soon-"

"If it's happening within the next three days, forget about it. Otherwise, you should probably still forget about it... but I'll see what I can do."

Michael walked away before Shinji could get another word in.

* * *

"Depth check."

Li Jie sighed as the insufferable British captain asked for yet another status update. It was bad enough that he'd been forced into what his friends were already calling the "balloon suit", but to be taking orders from him, of all people?

"This is Terrier Eight. Depth is target plus eight," Li reported. "Still descending at a rate of two per minute."

"Terrier Two here. Depth is target plus eight. Descent is two per minute."  
The German girl was pleasant enough, Li supposed. The late-model plugsuit she had worn had been a welcome distraction, at least. Her reaction when the suit ballooned out was similarly welcome.

"Terrier Five. Depth plus eight. Descent two per minute."  
Li cursed the Russian boy – Ivan – for the fiftieth time. Li's English was bad enough, and adding a Russian accent on top? It was a miracle he understood what Ivan was talking about.

"Copy that, Terriers. Foxhounds, everything still set with you?"  
Li tuned out the chorus of replies from the other Evangelion pilots, and got back to doing his job. The lava was too dense to make out anything using Unit 08's eyes, so he looked instead at his instrument panel. The target hadn't moved since it'd been found the day before.

He opened a radio channel to Unit 02.

"So," Li said, "what's it like? Fighting Angels?"  
He kicked himself as he spoke – the guest of countless talk shows and **that's** the only thing he could think of to ask?

"Not normally this boring," Asuka replied. "We've been at this for hours. All the other battles combined would have been over by now!"

"Six hours for transport. Two hours on top of that to finish widening the volcano so we could all fit. At least one hour inside here... how long is this going to go on for?" Li leaned back in his cockpit as he complained, trying to get comfortable.

"As long as it takes, Terrier Eight."

Li growled in frustration.

"Huntsman Seven, we've been stuck in these suits for hours. We don't even have any music playing! Besides, this was a private channel. Do you not understand the word "private"?"  
He knew his reaction was slightly over-blown, but aside from giving orders those British assholes hadn't spoken a single damned word.

"Private. Adjective: Belonging to or for the use of one particular person or group of people only. When referring to activities: involving only a particular person or group, and often dealing with matters that are not to be disclosed to others. Can also refer to thoughts or feelings not to be revealed to others, a person who does not often disclose their thoughts or feelings, or a place where such thoughts, feelings and activities can be disclosed or undertaken in secret or without interruption." Michael's voice droned out of the speakers, and Li stared in disbelief. "There's more, but I'm not going to bother reading it."

"That's just being pedantic! You knew exactly what-"

Michael cut Li off.

"Sensors are reading you as within capture distance. I'm saying go for it."

"Got it," Li acknowledged. "Terrier Eight has the cage. Terrier Two and Five, move to support positions."

He engaged the capture cage – a hollow rectangle made of special conductors that could transfer electric current in the extreme heat of the volcano. All Li had to do now was to reach down, and grab the egg.

He did so.

The egg cracked.

"Oh, shit," he said.

* * *

The Angel, still clad in most of its egg, burst out of the mouth of the volcano, trailing wires, lava... and three Evangelions. It expanded as it flew up in a flurry of movement. The Evas kept in reserve – Units 00, 01, 06, 07 and 09 – opened fire as one.

Their shots sparked, uselessly, off of the Angel's AT Field.

It slowed down, and the last bit of the egg fell off.

"I was expecting a dragon or something," Rose admitted. "Does anyone know what that's supposed to be?"

"Ophanim," said Tatyana. "An Angel from the bible. Is chariot."

"Core's in the centre," Michael said, cutting off the discussion. "Let's get to work."

He couldn't resist muttering; "Damned thing doesn't look anything like a chariot to me..."

* * *

Li's mind snapped back into focus. Where the hell was he?

Oh, right.

He keyed in the command to jettison the Type-E equipment – which thankfully deflated his suit too – and took stock of the situation. Angel? Check. Unit 08? Check. Several miles between him and the ground? Check.

This would be a good time to mention that Li did not suffer from a fear of heights. He suffered instead from a fear of hitting the ground after falling from a height – a distinction which eludes many modern psychologists but is important nonetheless. That said, in this instance both phobias would ultimately have the same effect.

Li lost a few seconds as his mind tried to deal with the fact that he (in a war machine weighing somewhere in the region of hundreds to thousands of tonnes) was hanging off of what appeared to be two rings somehow spinning inside each other by five threads.

Another part of his mind used that time far more productively.

Unit 08 started swinging.

* * *

"Terriers! Can any of you take that thing's AT Field down?"  
It was probably no use, Michael knew, but it had to be asked. The harsh squealing noise of the Angel's AT Field was his only reply.  
"Going to combat synchronisation," he said – not an order, but a warning. Rose laid a hand on his shoulder from behind him, and he gripped it.

He closed his eyes.

_Click_

* * *

Unit 07 opened its eyes.

* * *

"How the hell do we deal with a flying Angel?!" Shinji screamed as yet another round from his upscaled sniper rifle did absolutely nothing to the enemy.  
"You know," he ranted, "I designed a weapon that could actually be useful here, but nooo! My fucking Father had to ignore every single fucking request me and the MAGI made to put it into production!"

The rifle clicked empty. He reloaded without breaking stride.  
"There's eight of us! EIGHT! Every single Evangelion on the planet! So why, in the name of every damned hell in every fucking religion, is it looking at me?!"

"Shinji," said Rei, over in Unit 00 next to him, "Has anyone told you how irate you get when you fight?"  
For her part, the blue-haired girl was showering the Angel with bullets from an almost comically sized Gatling gun. They had just as much effect as Shinji's rounds (and the shots from every other ground-level Eva) – that is to say, none at all.

"This always happens, though!" Shinji argued. "Every bloody time! It's like they want me, specifically, dead for some reason!"

"The Angel has yet to attack," Rei pointed out. "And you **are** the most successful Angel-killer. They may have some way of knowing that."

The two concentric rings that made up the Angel aligned, both outside the other and simultaneously inside each other. Shinji caught a brief glimpse of the core, in the exact centre of the circles, before the Angel attacked.

Shinji screamed as the Angel's beam washed over his AT Field.

* * *

Asuka grunted as Unit 02 hit the ground. Unit 05 followed shortly after – both had been cut loose when the Angel had fired its beam.

"Catch," said two voices over her speakers. An assault rifle was thrown in her direction, so she grabbed it. The Angel was still firing, the light overloading her cameras and blinding her Eva's eyes.

She fired anyway.

The Angel screamed, and retreated back into its defensive posture.

* * *

The rings were spinning now. On the plus side, this was making Li's job a lot easier. On the down side, the entry plug now smelled of vomit.

Now all he needed was a way through...

* * *

Unit 07 looked up, blinking away the last few dots left by the actinic glare of the Angel's beam. They saw Unit 08 spinning around the Angel. Two of Unit 07 laughed, amused by the sight. The third pondered it, and came to a conclusion.

Unit 07 looked down at their feet. There was a box there, containing their longsword.

A spring (or rather, rocket)- loaded box.

Unit 07 came to another conclusion.

* * *

Li vomited for the third time as he circled the Angel for what seemed like the eightieth. He could barely keep his eyes open, which was a good thing because the sky and the ground seemed to be swapping places a lot right now.

A glint of sunlight on metal, and the fire of a rocket caught his eye. He reached out.

A longsword fell (or flew, it was getting hard to tell) into his hand.

Not pausing to consider the rather minute possibility of this exact sequence of events occurring, Li waited for another circuit of the Angel, and released his tethers.

* * *

Unit 08 flew upwards one last time. It hung for a moment in the air, and began to fall. Li triggered his emergency manoeuvring thrusters, pushing him down. He even managed to get the sword in front of his body.

His AT Field met the Angel's, and both gave way. Blade met Angel-flesh, and bit through.

All Li could do was close his eyes and hold the sword as steady as he could-

and then Unit 08 was free, and falling, and the two halves of the Angel fell beside him as the core detonated.

Li then realised he was headed straight for the mouth of the volcano.

* * *

Unit 07 moved even before the Angel died. One of it had realised exactly where Unit 08 was going to fall, and was determined to save its comrade.

It got to the mouth of the volcano, hand outstretched, just as Unit 08 passed the rim.

* * *

Li felt the shock as Unit 07 caught him. He sighed, letting the adrenaline shock fade from his body.

"Fuck Sir Isaac Newton," he breathed.


	18. Chapter 18 (Part 1 of 2)

Michael slowly opened his eyes. Light poured through a crack in the curtains, and he winced as pain spiked through his head. Every part of him seemed to hurt; he'd even managed to sleep with his left arm still attached. Part of him wanted to wake up, but it was shouted down by the rest of him. He closed his eyes again, and turned over on the sofa.

_Wait,_ the paranoid part of him said, _sofa? We don't even **have** a sofa. We were going buy one in after the Angel was dealt with..._

He sat up, gasping in pain. The room was filled with sleeping bodies, all about his age and all thankfully fully-clothed. On the other hand, he didn't recognise anyone.

Vague memories of the previous night started to trickle in. He was pretty sure there'd been a ship at some point, and a traffic cone. For some reason, he'd had an irresistible urge for a kebab as well. He shook his head – bad idea. More pain surged through his brain.

Gingerly stepping over the still-sleeping bodies, he made his way out the door as quietly as he could.

_I don't think I'm in Tokyo-three any more, _he thought.

After all, Tokyo-3 wasn't a floating city.

* * *

Rei was having a similar morning. Well, her hangover was similar, but in her case she woke up in a bed. The first thing she was aware of was that there was a weight on her right arm, and she really, really needed the bathroom.

She opened her eyes, and like her brother she winced as the morning sun shone in the cloudless sky. Unlike Michael, she kept her eyes open and scanned the room. _This is the house assigned to Shinji for the duration of the school trip. _

Her mind was working slower than normal, which was rather annoying. _I was not originally supposed to come on the trip. There was a meeting with Commander Ikari and Captain Katsuragi, which I was not a part of, then Michael gave me a plane ticket and told me to come here anyway. There was a party._ That established the basic events leading up to her current situation, but she had more pressing matters to deal with than trying to remember the details.

She checked to make sure it **was** actually Shinji next to her, gave the sleeping boy a quick hug, and rushed to the bathroom.

* * *

Squinting in the sadly sobering sunshine of the Sunday morning, Michael staggered down the street. He rifled through his pockets and scanned the street for landmarks. He perked up a little as his hand closed around his phone, and he brought it out of his pocket.

"Of course I don't have any bloody battery," he muttered. "Damned thing barely lasts a day..."

He looked around his pockets a little more, and found his Navy-issue ID card. That would probably come in useful.

He'd emerged into a suburban street after leaving the house, part of the floating city of Okinawa Beach. He'd been unconsciously retracing his past self's footsteps since then, and had ended up in the dockyards after a rather circuitous route.

"Hey, you there!" shouted someone from behind him, in English. "This is a restricted area, didn't you see the sign?"

Michael turned around, clutching his head. Between the shouting and the noise of the dockyards, his headache was just getting worse. He saw a familiar uniform, so he decided to take a chance.

"That would be "This is a restricted area, _sir_,"" he said, holding up his ID card. The soldier snapped to attention and saluted.

"Okay, better." Michael sighed, and bit the bullet. "That said... I have no idea what happened last night or how I ended up on Okinawa Beach. So... take me to your leader?"

* * *

In contrast with pretty much everyone he knew, Shinji Ikari woke up feeling perfectly fine. No headache, no need to vomit... hell, he didn't even feel that grimy.

He sat up, vaguely wondering why he was in a double bed, and looked out the hotel room's window. Flinging it open, he smiled as a fresh breeze wafted into the room. Today was going to be a good day.

He scratched idly at the burn scars on his hands and paced around the room as his mind wandered off on a scientific tangent. _So,_ the train went, _we know that the substance making up an Angel's core is a perfect black-body absorber, which somehow does not emit radiation. The only other thing I'm aware of that acts in the same way would be a black hole, but since the world hasn't been destroyed we can assume that Angel cores are not black holes. The geological survey team didn't detect any anomaly whatsoever – the lava flow was completely normal – so we can also assume that the phenomenon's not based on the density of the material. This-_

His train of thought skidded to a stop as he noticed a second pair of (female!) shoes by the door. His mind chose that moment to tell him that the room's en-suite shower was running.

_If that's not Rei, Rei is going to kill me._

* * *

"This way, sir," the Royal Marine gestured into the wardroom, the plate above the door proclaiming it as the HMS _Bristol_. Michael walked inside, and slumped into the closest chair. The ship was gearing up to leave port, and the sudden quiet when the marine closed the door was a welcome relief.

A voice boomed from the other side of the room, in a strong Scottish accent. "Captain Michael Ayanami. I'm so glad you finally turned up."

Michael sighed, and looked for the teapot. It had been the custom on the _Lancaster_ to keep one in the room. _Which,_ he internally sighed, _means there wouldn't be one here. _

"You have me at a disadvantage," he said, finally. "I have to apologise if we've already been introduced. My memory of the past few days is... sketchy." He looked up as he spoke, and saw the white-haired man sitting at a desk at the other end of the room.

"That it would be," the other man said. "I'm Captain Peter Greene, and I have the "honour" of commanding this bucket of bolts and giving support to a fourteen-year-old."

_Ah. One of **these**._ Michael decided to crush this quickly, for once. "Captain Greene, this posting is not a punishment, and I am not some entitled brat. I am an officer of the Royal Navy, just like you, and I have earned my position."

"Aye, you English bastard," Captain Greene said with just enough respect in his voice to make it clear it wasn't just an insult, "but what's this poor old ship going to do against one of those Angels, huh?"

"Point of order, and ignoring the rhetorical question," Michael interjected, "technically speaking, I'm Welsh."

"You've got a bloody English accent, so you're a bloody English bastard," Greene said, shaking his head. "It's moot anyway," he continued. "Orders are orders."

The old man reached below the desk and pulled out a package of letters.

"There's a bunch of stuff here," he said, throwing the bundle in Michael's general direction. Michael scrambled to snatch it out of the air. "Oh yeah. The old Admiral's will and testament just got cleared by MI5, there's a copy of it in there."

"Thanks," Michael said. He left without another word.

* * *

"Evangelion Patrol Two has reported back," Fuyutsuki droned from behind Gendo. "Nothing to report."

"It's times like this I consider just letting them know about the Scrolls already," Gendo said, wearily. "Continue."

"Our little hunting party thinks they've found something," Fuyutsuki said. "Thanks to your son's little toys, they found it ahead of schedule."

"Good. Make preparations for our departure," Gendo ordered. "We leave on the Seventh."

"You want to pay your respects this year?" asked the professor, surprised. "You've missed it the past few years."

"I did not need the annoyance of Pilot Ikari whining at me every time I went," Gendo rebuked. "But I should not miss this year."

"Ακριβώς να είστε βέβαιος να μην κοιτάμε πίσω." sang Fuyutsuki, softly.

"I think we're far enough out of the cavern that we can, old friend," Gendo replied. "You always did like the classics, didn't you?"

"They're classics for a reason," Fuyutsuki said. "One more thing. We've both been invited to a day-long "strategy and scientific briefing", chaired by your son and the good Captain."

"I think we'll pass on that one. Find an excuse." Gendo paused, shuffling some papers on his desk. "How goes their little excursion, anyway?"

"Our agent managed to carry out the job you gave him," Fuyutsuki replied. "It didn't seem to have the desired effect, although I'm told the footage from last weekend is highly amusing."

Gendo turned to stare at the old man, sternly. "If I had any interest in amusement," he said, "I would let you speak more often."

* * *

Michael collapsed into the chair in his new quarters, leafing through the various letters he'd been handed. Most of it was just paperwork, but there was one bulky package that was far more interesting.

The door to the room opened, and Rose stepped through carrying two mugs of tea.

"I was beginning to wonder where you'd gotten to," Michael commented, dryly.

"Someone had to stay sober last weekend, sir," replied Rose with a hint of acid. "Captain Greene says we'll be leaving port within the hour."

"Good, good." Michael turned his attention back to the letters as Rose sat on the room's other chair. "I take it the other two are alright?"

"No word from them, but they've got a platoon from the Scots Guards watching over them," the girl said.

Michael let out a low whistle. "Two teenagers with a mechanised infantry platoon watching over them," he remarked. "What a world..."

* * *

"..is this... safe?" Shinji stammered as Rei pushed him towards the edge of the vertical concrete slab that marked the boundary between land and water. _I only agreed to this because she said "swimsuit", I didn't think she'd actually expect me to do THIS! _He adjusted his swimming trunks self-consciously, silently cursing the deal the two had made that morning.

"Trust me," Rei said, and pushed Shinji the last meter.

For an infinitely brief moment, the boy windmilled in mid-air. Rei was puzzled by this, and made a note to investigate the phenomenon later, then watched with no small amount of concern as he fell.

A dozen meters later, Shinji hit the water. Momentum pushed him under the surface, and he panicked for a few seconds. _Please tell me she got the right pool. Oh god why did I agree to this I'M UNDERWATER PLEASE GET ME THE FUCK OUT-_

He took a breath, letting the oxygenated water flow into his lungs. The panic subsided, a little, and he floated to the surface.

Rei let out a sigh of relief as Shinji surfaced. Even though she'd known the pool was as close to safe as it was possible to be, the part of her that really, really didn't want to lose Shinji had been telling her that something was definitely going to go wrong any second now. She unslung her bag, and took cover behind a convenient pipe as she changed.

Shinji stared into the darkness of the water, enjoying the feeling for the first time in his life. He felt Rei – or rather, what he sincerely hoped was Rei – splash into the pool next to him. A pair of arms lifted him up, and he stared into her face. Minutes passed, the two teens just staring at each other, until Shinji realised he was rubbing up against something **very** soft.

His reaction was rather predictable.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," said Sergeant Harper, "you can **breathe** that shit?"

"It's perfectly safe," said the platoon's designated know-it-all and nerd, Lance-Corporal Pike, "the water's oxygenated and the human body is naturally buoyant in the substance. Most of the pools here use the stuff."

"So why come all the way out here just for a swim?" Corporal Morel, their so-called "token Frenchie". "Surely if they had... other business... in mind, they could just do it at the hotel, no?"

"Kid jumped higher than the fucking moon when he realised just how close he was to her tits," said Private Walker, cradling his GPMG. "I think he'd faint if he ever-"

"Enough," ordered Harper, "we're here to keep an eye on them, not fuel your sick fantasies. Fucking pedo."

"I am **not** a pedo!" Walker protested. "I like older women!"

"You were going on about the girl's tits, you sick bastard," Corporal Frazer pointed out. "Back in my day, we'd-"

"This conversation is no longer appropriate. Change it." The platoon's attached intelligence officer said, calmly. The platoon turned as one to stare at the man, who hadn't turned from his radio equipment. "Incidentally, nothing to report."

"You heard the Leftenant! Shut your traps and get back to work!" Harper said. The soldiers complied, a small group setting up a card game to pass the time.

"Fucking spooks," Frazer muttered. "Deal me in."

* * *

"So, what've you got?" Rose asked, sitting on the room's bed. "Anything cool?"

An outside observer looking at Michael's quarters would be mildly amazed at how it seemed to be simultaneously organised and disorganised. Two heaps of letters had formed, one made up of "unimportant" things, the other made up of "important" things. The amazing part was that the piles were completely separate – not a single letter had crossed between them.

"Is that really the sort of question you should be asking?" Michael pointed out. "Look, I'll just give you the damned thing if it'll shut you up for a bit."

He threw the small bundle of paper making up Admiral Jones' will at Rose.

"I was just asking!" said Rose, taken aback. She picked up the letter and started scanning it. "Hey, you get his film collection."

Michael glared at her, and picked up the next letter in the pile. Opening it, he began to read.

"_For the attention of Michael Ayanami, in the event of my demise:_

_So, if you're reading this, there's a good chance I'm dead. If not, or if you're not Mike, stop reading this. It's rather personal._

_Are they gone? Good._

_The first thing I need to tell you is that this isn't actually going to be a personal letter. I'll be honest, I was never that good at the whole "parenting" thing. I suppose the fact that both the kids I've ever looked after are, technically speaking, mass-murderers should be an indication of that._

_The second thing you need to know is the following number sequence: 57-65-82. That, when presented to a representative of International Storage and Import Services, should give you access to certain documents and other sundry items which are important. They will match you against a photograph in the system, so whoever else is still reading this won't be able to get in._

_The contents of that storage lot is to be kept from the hands of anyone who isn't you – Michael, that is, not the rude bastard who's still reading this – at all costs. You might recall that month I forced you to go through espionage training. You're going to need it._

_I can't put too much in this letter, but I can tell you to be on your guard. The only person you can trust is yourself. I know how close you are to your co-pilot, but when I say "you can only trust yourself", I mean it._

_One last thing. I raised you, and I have many regrets about how I did so. Despite all of that, I'm still immensely proud of you. Try not to die._

_Regards,_

_Admiral Oliver Jones."_

Michael stared at the letter for a few moments, then carefully folded it up and placed it in the "unimportant" pile. He picked up the next letter, face kept carefully steady.

He scanned through the lines of the next letter, and the mask broke.

"Aw, fuck," he said.

_ROYAL FLEET AUXILIARY MEMO_

_FROM: Captain Stuart, RFA Fort Austin_

_TO: Captain Ayanami, Unit 07_

_MEMO RE: SUPPLIES FOR EVANGELION TASK FORCE_

_Captain Ayanami,_

_I have been assigned to provide exclusive support for the ETF. In order to facilitate this duty, and at your own direct request, I have taken stock of your supplies. Below is a detailed break-down of all ETF-specific supplies left in stock at Gibraltar. This is not including whatever supplies you have at NERV HQ._

_ARMOUR:_

_Armour plates (4*6*4m): 127_

_Armour plates (full leg, can fit either leg): 42_

_Armour plates (full arm, can fit either): 58_

_Armour plates (shoulder): 31_

_CONSUMABLES (Fuel, Ammo, Etc):_

_Fuel rods: 10, 698_

_Rounds, 7.62mm: 44, 582_

_Rounds, 30mm: 21, 122_

_Rounds, 457mm: 98_

_Missiles (RGM-84/KK): 145_

_Missiles (ADATS): 129_

_Missiles (SM-2 Standard family): 23_

_LCL: 16 standard fluid tanks_

_WEAPONS:_

_Spare 457mm cannons (full assembly, exc. barrels): 4_

_Spare 457mm barrels: 9_

_Spare 7.62mm emplacements: 78_

_Spare 30mm emplacements: 26_

_Spare Missile Emplacements (Omni-type): 2_

_Melee Weapons (sword): 9_

_Melee Weapons (knife): 15_

_Melee Weapons (shield): 4_

_RADAR/C3/FIRE CONTROL:_

_Spare AN/SPY-1 RADAR arrays: 1_

_Spare AEGIS Mk. 101 Fire Control System sets: 0 (one crate was labelled with this but instead turned out to contain 30 novelty inflatable hammers)_

_Spare "Kasparov" Battlefield Control System sets (complete): 1_

_Spare Radio Antennas (unknown type): 12_

_OTHER:_

_Plug Suits (all marks): 12_

_Entry Plugs (all marks): 3_

_Spare parts for Entry Plugs: 83 standard crates_

_Spare parts (various, miscellaneous): 152 standard crates_

_Rocket motors (Saturn V S1): 1_

_Rocket motors (Shuttle SRB): 6_

_Rocket motors (SPRINT): 8_

_Spare EV-2 Reactor parts: 0.5 standard crates (crate contains one (1) control assembly)_

_Novelty Inflatable Hammers: 30_

_I have also analysed the combat data you have sent back. Current usage rate of these supplies is approximately 20% per engagement, with usage of ammunition running at 50% per engagement. _

_As common sense should tell you, this won't last long. Production of most of the common stuff – the rifle and 30mm rounds, the 4*6*4 armour plates etc – is stretched, thanks to the Service having to replace most of its fleet, so you won't be seeing any more of those till next month at the earliest. You're probably never going to get any more replacements for the Trebuchet cannon, or the rockets. Things like the Entry Plugs and Plug Suits can, thankfully, be supplied on-site by NERV and the other Evangelion forces._

_Yours,_

_Captain Stuart._

"That could be a problem," Michael sighed. "And I though Unit Zero was going to be the supply hog."

"What about those three-D fabricators NERV's supposed to have?" Rose asked. "If we can get access to those..."

"Let's just hope we get access to them, shall we?" said Michael, simply.


	19. Chapter 19 (Part 2 of 2)

"Wait, wait, wait," Kensuke said, breathless, as they passed yet another high-end clothes shop, "You spent the trip over on the _Bristol_ and never told me?"

Rei gave the nerd a quiet glare. "Was there some reason why I would tell you?"

"It's the _Bristol_! Do you know anything about warships?"

"For the sake of argument, assume that she does not nor does she particularly want to know," Shinji stated flatly, scanning the street for any sign of Toji.

"That is incorrect," said Rei. "I know what the _Bristol _is famous for. I simply see no reason to inform civilians about my – classified – movement orders."

"Come on!" Kensuke whined, "At least introduce me to the new pilots..."

"They're all a bit busy," said Shinji, annoyed. Rei had been drawing stares all day, and it was beginning to get to him. "We probably will be too, when we get back."

"Aw, man..." Kensuke looked dejected for a moment, and Shinji felt a pang of guilt. The boy was, after all, one of his friends.

Speaking of friends... "Hey, Toji!" he called out, spotting the jock next to the class rep of all people. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Busy, y'know?" evaded Toji. Hikari looked... embarrassed. Odd.

"Look, it's nearly time to head back to the hotel. We're out of here in the morning, remember?" That came from Kensuke, who had also taken Shinji hours to find.

Mumbling an agreement, the jock and his companion fell in behind Shinji. The journey back was made in silence.

* * *

"I think I can get our SY-elevens to talk to your main computer, I just have to make sure not to overwrite the drivers," Lieutenant Ibuki said, half-buried in Unit 07's entry plug. "Why you have to use such obsolete equipment..."

"Those last-gen SY-elevens haven't been changed since... well, ever," said Michael, tapping away at a laptop. His left arm lay disassembled several meters away, and a cable fed into the empty socket. "I mean, sure, I was starting to get less sensation from the armour, but if you ask me-"

The power went out. Michael turned around instinctively, and came face-to-face with the barrel of a pistol.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

* * *

"Hold the doors!" was all Misato heard before a very familiar and unwelcome face appeared beside her.

"Really? All the elevators in this building, and you choose this one?" she snapped.

"Would you believe there's only like five that actually go to the top?" Kaji replied, out of breath. "And this one's the only one that can get there in less than three minutes?"

"I did not know that," Misato said, "And why is that so important that you had to spoil my brunch?"

"Because-"

The power went out, white light replaced by red.

"Oh, for fuck's sake..."

* * *

Gendo neither stirred nor spoke as the power went out. Instead, he simply raised his right arm, and stared at his palm for a few seconds.

Then, he got up and left his office.

* * *

Li pulled his winnings toward him, the stack of coins a symbol of his evening's efforts. Tatyana groaned in tiredness and annoyance, and got up to make yet another cup of coffee. They'd been up since 6am, and it was looking like they weren't going to be let off duty for another few hours.

"When the hell are those lazy slackers going to be back?" she mumbled.

"Tomorrow, according to our glorious leader," Li answered, eliciting another groan.

"So we're on tomorrow morning as well? Christ..."

"On top of that, in two days' time we've got that... what was it? "Strategy seminar?" All day, starting at seven."

"Just fucking kill me now," the Russian girl said. "A day of listening to that deer-fucking imperialist asshole?" She sighed. "At least we're not on patrol anymore. That sucked. In glorious Russia," she added a heavy accent, "we do not need patrols."

"You... do know Russia's not Communist, right?" Li took a proffered cup as Tatyana sat back down. "There's no reason to keep the Communist shtick up."

"It is... how you say... an expectation," Tatyana explained, adopting a strong accent. "I'm not even Russian. I'm Lithuanian. My family moved after -"

The power went out.

"Finally!" Li said. He lay his head on the table, and went to sleep.

"You know," Tatyana said to the sleeping figure, "In glorious People's Russia, you would be shot for that."

* * *

"Seriously. You really think this is a good idea?" Michael gave the masked man the best glare he could under the circumstances. "Pulling a gun on one of nine people actually able to fight giant monsters that want to wipe out humanity. That's the plan you came up with. And, on top of that, you chose me."

"You're unarmed, partially literally," the man said. "I have a gun pointed at you. Whether I shoot you or not is-"

"Okay, I'm going to let you finish, but this kind of has to be said," said Michael, irate. "First, "unarmed"? Really? I mean, this is kind of a crippling disability here. Second, if you're not planning to shoot me, **point the gun somewhere else**. Did they never teach you gun safety at... wherever you come from?"

The masked figure lowered the pistol slightly, trying to think of an appropriate reaction. Michael took one step forwards, batted the gun away-

BANG

-and collapsed onto the floor as the bullet entered his leg.

"OW. FUCK."

"Paging Mr. Hypocrite," the other man said. "It turns out that slapping a loaded gun is a bad idea."

Michael took a breath, and pushed the pain away. "You were pointing it at me first!"

He pushed himself up, stumbling slightly as his injured leg bore his weight, and shoved the masked man, who fell over the railing into the specialised LCL mixture below.

"You know," he panted, watching the poor man's body dissolve, "you'd think there'd be a cover or something on that stuff. Although it is rather impressive you managed to get LCL to do **that**."

Maya poked her head over the edge of the entry plug. "It's just something it does when foreign bodies are- oh god you're bleeding."

"Yeah. Also, the bullet's kind of still in my leg, so- OW – I can't really do much right now. Can you help me to the cockpit?"

* * *

"So... about this whole situation," Kaji began, "It's... not exactly a coincidence."

"You engineered this solely to get us two in an elevator without power, didn't you," said Misato, calmly. "Before you try anything, remember: I still have my sidearm."

"So do I, but I really wasn't going to try anything." Kaji felt for his pistol anyway, just in case. "Okay, so all of this is going to sound a little crazy, but you're kind of the only other person who, one: will believe me, and two: I can actually trust." He took a breath, hand still on his sidearm. "So, here goes. Literally every single major incident in Western human history since about five C.E has been orchestrated by the same person. This person, since the eighteen hundreds, has been expanding their influence over the entire planet with one goal in mind: to find the First and Second Angels."

"You're right, that does sound crazy," Misato said, reaching for her hand-cannon. "But, I kind of have nothing better to do right now, so, exposit away." _Ten to one this is some ploy to make up a story so stupid he thinks I'll have sex with him just to stop him talking._

"Okay." Kaji pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Misato glared at him, and opened the maintenance hatch to let some air in. Unfortunately, NERV's builders had neglected to provide ladders for escape. "So, I have no idea what this guy actually wants – I mean, he's immortal already, and has enough pull to tell superpowers what to do. But, I do know it has something to do with Third Impact."

* * *

"Movement on the camera," the signals officer said – the second time he'd spoken. "SMGs, heavy body armour, rifles. Twelve total."

"Looks like it's time to move," Sergeant Harper said. "Get your gear and move to point Alpha. Someone get on the radio and call in the Warriors, too."

"Yes, Sergeant!" the assembled soldiers called.

* * *

"Third Impact?" Misato asked. "Doesn't that kind of imply the extinction of humanity?"

"Yeah, which makes the whole thing really confusing. This person and the Commander seem to be in league with each other, although they don't have exactly the same goals. Case in point, Adam."

The mention of the First Angel's name sent Misato rocking to the side of the elevator. "Adam. You mean... it's not dead?"

"Honestly, with Angels, it's a bit hard to tell," Kaji replied. "However, it's kind of irrelevant. The Commander has whatever's left, and SEELE – the group this mystery guy's in charge of – didn't want that to happen. Another example – Britain."

"You're not going to say they set that war up, are you? That's a bit paranoid, even from you."

"It's a little complicated. I still haven't got the full story, but it looks like some covert op went south really, really badly, and someone called in the big guns. That, on top of one of these SEELE members deciding to go a bit too rogue..." He sighed in frustration. "The Commander had some part in it, that much is clear. But so many things don't make sense! Why invade one of your closest allies? Why were they able to activate an Evangelion so early? How did Morris manage to take the presidency? The EU and NATO stand by while Britain's getting torn apart, then after Blackpool they all join in on the fighting?" Misato was slightly worried by the spy's sudden tirade.

"You need to lay off whatever it is you've been smoking. They covered this in the recent history module, remember? The flooding New York, LA and so on, the Southern resurgence, Morris taking DC while Congress bickered?" Misato tried to explain. "Everyone was still in chaos, even in oh-six. Hell, the EU ended up splitting apart a few years later – Germany's pretty much inseparable from NERV, that's why they set up the AFU!"

"None of that matters! Morris was an Army officer, the entire rest of the Army should have turned against him the moment he took power! There should have been a civilian backlash of some sort! Did you ever study history beyond that module? America never agrees on anything, unless that something is Nazis!"

"Even if all of this is true, WHY? Why would anyone want Second Impact, or the wars, or any of it?" Misato asked, playing her final card.

"You saw what Adam could do," Kaji said. "All of this... it's just fighting over that power. Even the Evangelions hold just a fraction of Adam's potential -"

The lights flickered on and off, then burned brightly.

* * *

"Okay, now screw in that panel there..." Michael directed, flicking the switches controlling Unit 07's reactor. The screens around him were dark, but he didn't need them. "Now, let's just hope they set your power system up to deal with an Eva providing power."

"No reason they shouldn't be," Maya replied.

"You'd be surprised," said Michael. "Alright, now... Ah. That could be a problem."

"Did we lose containment or something?"

"Quite the opposite. The control rods are fully deployed – the failsafe kicked in when we lost power. I can't get them out of the reactor without some charge for the magnets. No manual override because... well, radiation." He sighed. "Of course, the designers only thought that you'd risk being irradiated to shut the reactor **off**, not turn it back **on**."

"So... now what?" Maya asked, leaning back in Unit 07's rear cockpit.

"Well, there's an unspecified amount of enemies in the base, I've got a bullet in my leg and I can't turn the reactor on. So, I guess it's time to do some field surgery. Again."

* * *

"You know," Shinji said, pushing himself away from his laptop, "Sometimes I wonder why I bother."

Rei gave him a look from where she sat on the hotel bed, which said both "what are you complaining about" and "why haven't you made us dinner yet like you promised". Rei was a very efficient person.

"I mean, some of this data contradicts itself. How the hell can an AT Field block all EM radiation and still leave the thing it covers visible? Why the hell does the core glow **RED? **How does that even WORK? The only thing it can't _always_ absorb on contact is a neutrino!" He stood up, and started pacing around the room. "NEUTRINOS AREN'T RED! It's not emitting the light – hell, that's another thing, how do they get energy from the core? What the hell is an S2 organ even supposed to be?" He sat on the bed next to Rei, who smiled.

"Doctor Akagi has trouble with similar things," she said. "I remember she once told me that she might have to re-write nearly every other aspect of physics just to account for the Angels."

"At least I can take solace in the fact that the Ph.D.-holding supergenius polymath hasn't figured any of this out in the fifteen years she's had to study it." He went through one of the breathing exercises – _in, hold, two, three, out_. _Repeat.  
_

"You know, I get the feeling Father's already got it all figured out," he said, chuckling. "That'd just be classic him, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," Rei agreed. "Incidentally, neither of us have consumed our daily calorific requirement."

Shinji stared at the girl for a moment, translating. _Okay, she wants food. And she only uses the full-on robot speak when she's annoyed. So..._ "Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. I was supposed to be cooking today, wasn't I?"

"You still are," said Rei.

"So-"

The door exploded.

* * *

"UURRAAGH!"

Michael's scream echoed through the hangar. He could hear every syllable as time slowed to a crawl, letting him experience every single crushing wave of pain as he slowly pulled the bullet from his leg. Inch by inch, it came out, held in the precarious grip of the medikit's tweezers. Before his shaking hand could drop it back in, he threw the tweezers away and slammed an LCL gel-pack into the wound. The pack burst, releasing the blood substitute into the wound.

Panting heavily, he started to bandage himself up.

"Why do you have a bone saw in here?" Maya asked, looking up from Unit 07's medikit.

"In case I have to cut another limb off," Michael replied, tying off the bandage. "I'm allergic to pretty much every painkiller except morphine, and cutting one off with a combat knife is... not pleasant." The stump of his left arm ached at the thought. Reminded of its absence, he stood and collected his prosthetic from the cockpit.

Maya stared at the blue-haired pilot. "You... cut that off yourself?" she asked, voice trembling slightly.

"There was an Angel trying to infect me through it." Michael grimaced as he wired the arm into the plug suit's internal network. He hadn't had time to really adjust to the new model – it felt a lot closer to his right arm, but he'd gotten used to his old, clunky prosthetic.

"The pain of that was a lot worse." Retrieving his pistol, he climbed back down from the entry plug. "Alright, I'm going to go see where my co-pilot is. Stay here, and see what you can get working. There should be a bit of power in the batteries – enough for comms and maybe the tacnet – so I should be able to keep in touch. Keep me updated."

* * *

Michael's co-pilot was dodging bullets. Rifle fire pinged off the pipe above her as she ran for cover, desperately trying to force her helmet to click into place.

"I only wanted to see how their reactors worked, and now this shit..."

The helmet finally locked, just as she managed to find some decent cover – yet another of the ubiquitous pipes. The HUD booted up slowly, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Michael's icon on the display.

"Deus Seven-one, this is Deus Seven-two. Come in, please." The call-sign felt unfamiliar – they'd never had to use the suit-to-suit comms before.

"Deus Seven-one here. Sitrep?" Straight to the point as per usual.

"Utterly fucked. I've got at least three hostiles with assault rifles plinking away at me, and the reactor seems to have been sabotaged." That was putting it lightly – the coolant feeds had been disconnected entirely, and it would probably take hours to put them all back.

"Alright. Are you armed?"

"Negative, repeat negative. I've got my suit on, but that's about it."

"Ping the tacnet, and get yourself on the map." So that was still working. She did as ordered, and hoped to whatever god was listening that the enemy hadn't broken onto the tacnet.

"Alright," Michael continued after a second or two, "I'm on the way. Stay alive."

* * *

"That's... an Angel." Shigeru Aoba stared at the gigantic spider-like creature standing in the middle of the city, awestruck.

"That it is," Makoto commented from the seat beside him. "Has... anyone ever gotten this close to one?"

"Kats said Shinji was standing right at the first one's foot when she grabbed him," Aoba replied without thought. "And the city's in the middle of a power cut, too..."

"So... let's get out of here?" his co-worker asked. "I mean, screw this job." He was still sore that the Commander had assigned him to help with one of the mayoral candidates' election campaign.

"Unless the Angel's interested in elections, then yeah, we should. Get on the horn, we may as well warn people as we go."

* * *

_Time seems to be passing at one hundredth the rate it usually does,_ Rei thought to herself during the second after the door blew open. She scanned the room, and planned.

Armoured figures strode in, loosing a single shot each from their rifles. Rei was already moving, shoving herself and Shinji down behind the bed-

-except Shinji had a similar idea, but in the opposite direction; he was heading for the bathroom.

The two collided with one another, and one of the bullets slammed into Shinji's back. The boy had, by a quirk of physics, ended up facing the door. In a single fluid motion, Rei pushed him behind the bed, drew her pistol, squeezed the trigger-

and couldn't do it. Her finger simply refused to push past the point where the gun would fire.

She settled for the next best thing, and took cover.

Time sped up again. She felt her heart pound as she turned Shinji over to see the wound, but there wasn't any blood, or even much of a bruise. She looked around, and saw the bullet sitting a few metres away – a _rubber_ bullet. Odd.

Heavy footsteps clanked towards the two of them, but Rei knew they weren't there to kill them, at least. That meant-

Before she could finish her thought, more gunfire erupted from further down the hallway.

* * *

"Contact!" shouted Morel as the enemy took pot-shots at him and his section. He took cover in the corridor junction, and poked his head out for a second to see just who was shooting him.

"No markings on the armour," he reported across the platoon's tacnet. "I counted four here. Keep an eye out for the others."

He swung out, levelling his FAMAS – a relic from his time with the Armée de Terre – and squeezed off a few rounds. One, by chance, took one of the enemies in the knee. Pulling back into cover, he made a few hand gestures at his section – his Lance-Corporal took the second fire-team to try to flank the enemy, while the first suppressed the enemy. Textbook tactics, and utterly predictable... but they were textbook for a reason.

Unable to push forwards or even fall back thanks to the heavy firepower from the fire-team's GPMG (manned by Private Walker, who it was rumoured had traded quite a large amount of alcohol for the non-standard gun), the enemy was easily flanked by the second fire-team. A few seconds later, and the fight was over.

There were still eight of the enemy left unaccounted for, however...

* * *

Michael ran through the halls of NERV, forcing the pain from his leg into a tiny ball in a tiny corner of his mind, focussing on getting to Rose as fast as he could. He turned a corner-

and ran straight into Commander Ikari. The two rocked back, but neither fell.

"There is an Angel attacking the city," the Commander stated.

"Well, that's just fucking brilliant," Michael sighed, regaining his balance. "Unit Seven's out of action right now, and my co-pilot's kind of pinned down by the bastards who took out the power." He paused to think. "The reactor for Unit Seven is pretty much ready to be restarted, and I'd set it up to link into the base before it shut down. It just needs a little bit of power – if you've got a backup generator, you could restart it."

"Will it be sufficient to get the other Units out?"

"The reactor's able to power two Evas at a time – more, if they charge up their batteries and swap the cables around." Michael did a quick calculation in his head. "You should be able to power some of the facility too, although I'd focus on getting the Evas out first."

"You should report to your Unit." That sounded like an order. Unfortunately...

"Even with power, it won't be able to move. I was doing some maintenance which'll take at least another day or two." The Commander gave him a stern look from behind those weird orange glasses. "Besides, even if it was combat-ready, I still need my co-pilot. I'm not going to pilot it without her."

"You can't pilot it, or you won't?"

"Either, both, whichever works best. Anyway," he said, with a quick salute, "I've gotta get down there before she takes a bullet. Lieutenant Ibuki can get in touch with me if you need to." The formalities dealt with, he broke back into a run.

* * *

Things were not going well. Somehow, the infiltrators had triggered one of the containment mechanisms on the reactor, and now there was a two metre-thick door where there used to be a way out. Which meant that there probably wasn't a way in, either, which made the whole exercise a bit pointless. With that in mind, Rose turned around and stepped into the open, her hands raised.

"So," she called out, "looks like we've got a little bit of an impasse."

Gunfire was her answer. Most of the bullets missed, or slammed into her armour and stopped, but one-

* * *

Gendo paused on the way to the Evangelion hangar, as if something odd had happened.

* * *

Maya felt the sudden surge of power before the entry plug closed, pulling her into the Evangelion. She scrabbled for the hatch, but it was dogged shut.

The screens around her lit up.

* * *

Michael staggered, clutching his gut, then the _other_ rushed into his head. He couldn't fight it – what was it doing? It was only supposed to happen inside the cockpit, damn it all!

He vomited, blood coating the inside of his helmet, then roared in anger and pain. The _other_ had him in its grip now, and it pushed his body past its normal limits. Before he knew it, he was in front of the door to the room his helmet and the _other_ told him Rose was in. A massive armoured door blocked his way. The _other_ didn't understand – it was rage and revenge incarnate, nothing could block it!

Slowly, he wrestled some control back – it was always easier to do so when it got confused. Pulling off his helmet, he racked his mind for a way past. Breaking through wouldn't be possible without...

A wolfish grin slowly spread across his face.

* * *

Rei found herself pulled upwards, and out of the room; "We're British Army, protection detail," was the only explanation she got before yet more gunfire erupted. Her protector/captor shielded her from the direction of the bullets, and she looked around for Shinji, where was he-

An explosion rocked the corridor, and the armoured figure holding her broke into a sprint. "Situation is Code Uniform, repeat, Uniform," said the man, between breaths. "Need - reinforcement. Got one of the - pilots - with me, I think Pike grabbed - the other but I – can't see him. They must have stashed some heavy weapons – somewhere in the building."

She faintly heard the voice at the other end of the line: "Copy that. Warrior One is sitting out the front, Warrior Two is in the garage. Get to one, the rest of the platoon can find Pike."

The soldier's response was to speed up.

* * *

"Keep your fucking head down, kid!" shouted one of the British soldiers, dragging Shinji back as he tried to run after Rei. "They swapped to live rounds, and I am **not** going to let you get killed here!"

Shinji bit back a snarl – Rei was in danger. There was only one response in his mind to that. He made a break for it, made it a few metres-

before the enemy caught up with what he was doing and sent a barrage of bullets at him. He slid into a room, and tried to think. _I'm unarmed, and I don't think I could do much if I was. Rei is out there somewhere, but the soldier carrying her was one of the British by the flag. That means I have time to get to her, so how am I going to..._

The room had an open window, and quite a large stock of bedsheets. _This is a terrible idea,_ he thought as he gathered the sheets up, _but it's the only one I can think of right now._

* * *

Tatyana whistled as she made her way to her Evangelion. The Commander himself had told her – and the Chinese pilot – to launch against the Angel. They were meant to delay and probe the Angel, to prepare for the other pilots.

She had every intention of killing it herself.

So, she whistled the old Red Army marching song as she walked.

* * *

The Carl Gustav recoilless rifle is one of the oldest anti-tank weapons in service. It has seen service in 45 separate countries (including Japan), and has been in production since 1948. It fires 84mm rounds, the most modern of which can penetrate more than 500mm of conventional armour, to a standard range of 700m against stationary targets. Once through, the jets of molten metal released by the HEAT warheads would melt the inside of any armoured vehicle. NERV had inherited several of the guns from old JSDF units, and they were kept in case of an attack by conventional forces.

Michael had two of them.

His right arm sagged under the sheer weight of one, while his left arm kept the other level as he tried to get its fingers around the firing grip. He'd replaced his helmet after liberating the guns – the sheer noise generated by firing one in such close quarters would be deafening, let alone the shock from two of them.

Preparations complete, he took one last look through the sights, and squeezed the triggers, right-side gun slightly before left-side gun.

The blasts rang through Michael's skull even through the helmet, letting the _other _come to the fore for a brief moment. He pushed it back as the smoke cleared. The door had a massive dent in it, with one tiny crack showing the room beyond. That was, however, all he needed. He let the _other_ take control, and strode toward the door. It cast the recoilless rifles aside, and broke into a sprint.

* * *

Shinji took a deep breath, waited two seconds, then flung himself out from the window. _Now, if about two-thirds of the calcs I did are right, then..._

The bedsheets snapped taut, physics pulling him down and back into the building. He had just enough forethought to shield his face as he slammed through the window. Even so, it still hurt, and he felt vaguely glad he'd decided to switch to a long-sleeved shirt.

He staggered to his feet, and smiled at the soldier standing before him. Well, to be more accurate, he smiled at the girl in the soldier's arms.

"What in the hell?" The soldier rocked back a step, almost reaching for his rifle before realising just who had broken through the window. "So... why?"

"What?" Shinji asked. _Why __**did**__ I do that?_

"You were with the others, right? We have orders to protect you two, so why jump down here?"

"Well..." Shinji racked his mind for an answer. "You... did kind of run off with my... my... girlfriend in your arms." _Damn it. I probably should have stuck with "friend."_

"You are one fucking mental son of a bitch, you know that?"

* * *

Tatyana whistled through her Evangelion's startup sequence, and even started to sing a little as it was slowly raised into position. She'd always been enchanted by her dad's old marching songs, even if he had never wanted to sing them to her. She stumbled over the words a little as the memories came back, but recovered.

She slowly moved Unit 06 out of its cradle, and waited for Unit 08 to run through its own boot-up sequence. Not that she needed the help – her own Eva was twice the size of her "backup". On top of that, the RAES had seen fit to add a few guns based on Unit 07's famous emplacements to its second Evangelion.

So, she kept up her singing as she made her way through the labyrinth of NERV.

* * *

Michael slammed into the door, left arm first. A few chunks fell out, and the _other_ began ripping at what was left with his hands. The return fire was unusually slow in coming – some of the shockwave must have gotten through – and when it did, it didn't even come close. The _other_ pushed his body through the door, and for the millionth time he mentally thanked his armour.

Finally, he was through, and he let the _other_ take full control.

* * *

Misato heard the first roar, and decided to ignore it. It was probably the wind or something.

She had almost managed to convince herself of that when the second roar echoed through the hallways, tinged with a tiny portion of what she knew as Adam's scream. Then, a massive explosion. She had, of course, drawn her pistol and headed straight for it, putting Kaji from her mind entirely.

The wrecked door gave her some pause, but the sound of battle drew her in. She took a few steps forward, got a glance at what was happening, and immediately took a step back.

A figure – a boy with blue hair, who she'd mistaken for Rei at first – was holding up a massive, muscle-bound soldier by the neck with his – robotic - left arm. He stood atop a small mound of bodies, most missing at least one limb. A helmet dangled from his right hand, covered with blood. As she watched, the boy – her mind couldn't associate it with the bossy Captain she'd met – squeezed, and the soldier fell limp with an audible _**crunch**_.

An insane grin spread across the boy's face, and blood dripped down from the soldier's corpse. He cast it aside, and turned to look at her. He flinched and started shaking, and took one step towards her-

then collapsed.

* * *

Shinji sprinted the last few metres into the waiting APC, just behind Rei. The British squaddie had set her down when she'd started to stir, and they'd retreated to the lobby with the soldier providing cover. The vehicle's hatch slammed shut, forcing Shinji to find a vision slit if he wanted to know what was going on. The rest of the British forces were in full retreat – one of them dragging another by their shoulder handles, and another spraying fire from a machine gun of some sort.

They took up defensive positions around the "Warrior" (Shinji didn't know if that was the name of the tank or the model, and resolved _never_ to ask Kensuke) as they got close, and waited. _I wonder why they don't just get in and drive off_, Shinji idly thought.

The answer was quickly apparent. The remainder of the enemy – whoever they were – came into view from the stairwells. Some of them noticed the armoured vehicle sitting in the middle of the hotel lobby, and tried to fall back.

None of them made it. The RARDEN gun of the Warrior IFV saw to that.

* * *

The Angel had lowered itself to the ground, and was using some weird acid to melt through NERV's outer armour. The tactic wouldn't actually work – it had only gotten through the first of the many layers, and that was designed to deflect high-energy attacks rather than sustained attacks. Tatyana almost pitied it as she lined her sights up on its core.

"Go," she said, and Unit 08 rushed out into the tunnel, climbed up to the Angel. Acid rained down on the Chinese Evangelion, and without an AT Field to protect itself it probably wouldn't last long. That didn't really matter, however – the moment the Angel's AT Field failed, Tatyana pulled the triggers on her control grips.

A hail of rounds, ranging from rifle-calibre bullets to tank shells, slammed into the Angel's core. It sagged slightly, then exploded.

The explosion rocked Unit 08, and it fell. Tatyana briefly considered just letting it fall into the accumulated acid below, but reached out her hand anyway.

"You know what?" Li said from the radio, "Next time, someone else can do the flying thing."

* * *

Hey peeps. Sorry this one took a while, things are kind of getting busy again.

You'll be glad to hear that we're about halfway through the story I've got planned out (yes, I have actually got plans, even if I am making most of the details up as I go along :P ) so either you've got more to look forward to, or you don't have to see this on the front page for too much longer.

For those who somehow didn't notice, I re-wrote the first chapter as well. Take a read through, and please let me know what you think.


	20. Chapter 20

"Are we supposed to be getting a weird radar return from Sector Seven?" asked the _Paitience_'s sensor officer, the only member of the crew to not come from either Britain or the African Union. Lieutenant Haenze hadn't had much chance to get familiar with the equipment; it was nothing like the Warsaw Pact-era stuff he'd trained on.

The Captain of the spaceship took nearly no time to react. "Open all missile hatches! Manoeuvring thrusters, spin us to face the contact! Iosef, get distance and heading, feed it to fire control. June, spin up the main cannon!"

The crew looked at her with disbelief.

"There are no other ships in the area! That thing's not one of ours!" she shouted, pushed into her seat by the sudden G-forces, hoping that it wasn't-

"Radar readings are... that's..." Haenze couldn't get the words out. This was supposed to be a warm-up run. "AT Field signature confirmed. It's an Angel."

-that.

* * *

"_So call now, and we'll even throw in your second box-set FREE!"_

"_This is Hotel California News, bringing you all the things you never knew you needed to know. Our top story tonight: The UNS _Patience_ has gone missing! The spacecraft, the first in a new line of "Star Frigates", was nearing the end of its month-long shakedown cruise when it disappeared from long-range radar scanning. UN officials refused to comment. We go live to the Iowan astronomer who reported the disappearance, Joshua McLeary. Josh, what could have caused something so valuable to just disappear? And why haven't the UN released a statement?"_

The voices from the radio slowly probed their way into Michael's consciousness. He felt weak, and couldn't even open his eyes. As per usual, every single part of him seemed to hurt at the same time.

"_-could be anything, Roxy. An accident, aliens, even an Angel. Or, they could be fighting a war up there between themselves. The ship vanished as it was making a pass around the dark side of the moon; astronomers like me have to rely on the UN's relay sats, so if they're hiding something..."_

"_You mentioned aliens? You mean we might be being attacked by two different alien races at once?"_

_Hotel California Radio? Really? There's people outside of America who listen to this shit?_ Michael briefly tried to make contingency plans for if they **were** being attacked by another alien race – it wasn't like he had anything better to do – but couldn't think much beyond _I really hope they're allergic to water_.

"_It's highly unlikely, but it could be the case. It's most likely to be an accident – the UN technocrats spent a lot of money on the _Patience_, so they're going to stay quiet about losing it until they find someone to blame. Second-most-likely case, it's an Angel. In which case, just let the kids in Tokyo-three take care of it."_

That nearly brought a laugh to Michael's lips. _Maybe if we don't get sabotaged again._ _Hell, it was probably some Americans who I..._ His train of thought skidded to a halt. _What... exactly happened earlier?_

_blood_

_flesh_

_pain_

_**vengeance**_

_Oh, right. _

_**That**__._

* * *

"This is a mess," Misato sighed as yet another pile of paperwork was thumped onto her desk. "Of all the brainless schemes they could have come up with, they had to choose the one that burned out half the wiring?"

"You're not the one who has to find time to replace the reactor control consoles," said Ritsuko, cigarette in hand. "Between those bazookas and all the blood, it's a miracle we managed to get them restarted at all."

"Oh, that reminds me, I got stuck in an elevator with Kaji of all people." Misato leant back and stuck one hand in her pocket. "He kept going on about conspiracy theory shit. I'd really thought he'd changed since college, y'know?" Her hand closed around something – probably one of the many cards NERV saw fit to burden its employees with. She took it out, and it brought something else with it.

"What's that?" Ritsuko appeared at her shoulder. Misato looked at the objects in her hand. _Photographs?_

"Is that Rei as a kid?" she wondered. "That dress in this one is really, really cute. I wonder where it went?"

"I don't think the other one's Rei," commented Ritsuko. "I doubt Rei ever wore a jumpsuit with the British flag on the front." _Besides, we only took three photos of her back then,_ she mentally added.

Misato stared in shock. "They really are identical, aren't they? They even have the same look on their faces." It was a sort of dead look, as though neither really knew how to exist.

"It's not unheard of for identical twins to be of different genders. It's rare, but possible." Ristuko carefully steered Misato towards the cover story.

"It's just... really confusing. How did they end up on opposite sides of the planet? And what happened to their parents?" There was no answer. Misato looked around, but Ritsuko had gone. _Creepy, _she thought, and looked at the photos again.

_Wait a minute. That's... kind of impossible._

The photograph of Michael was of a dead-eyed child, standing in front of the Tower Bridge in London, a classic tourist shot.

The bridge stood proudly, far above the water below.

* * *

_Initiate neural link._

Awareness slowly slid into Michael's mind as he pushed through the remote connection to Unit 07. Inside his mind, screens lit up.

_Query status of Taranis drone._

The answer was immediate – part of the maintenance they'd been doing was setting the drone up to talk to the network.

_Drone ready for launch. Activate Taranis drone, remote synchronisation protocol. Send following message to address/NERV/MAGI: "Please open tunnels 3-A through 12-A - Michael."_

One of the things he'd figured out was that his arm socket was currently sporting a hard-line connection to NERV's internal network, which was in turn connected to Unit 07's. The other things he'd figured out was that there was something seriously wrong with him, that he couldn't open his eyes or move, and after several hours of being awake and forced to listen to Hotel California Radio he was ready to do just about anything to distract himself.

_Reply received: "Reason?"_

_Sent message: "Aerial reconnaissance patrol. Flight plan attached."_

He'd tried rifling through the network, but aside from a few public-access pages and files (some of which were probably supposed to be hidden, judging by their rather irreverent content) he couldn't do anything. There hadn't been an unprotected external connection, and Michael didn't feel like asking for a wifi password, so the internet seemed to be out of the question.

_Reply received: "Opening now."_

_Confirmation. Tunnels are open. Activate drone cameras._

Those cameras had taken a lot of effort to get working, back when they were modifying the drone to fly from Unit 07. The problem lay in his end; getting the neural link that fed into his arm to carry optical data had not been easy. After that, it had taken a long time for him to get used to it – he hadn't even been able to take off until he'd figured out that perhaps keeping his eyes closed was a good idea.

Light flooded his vision, and the drone slowly slid out of its hangar.

_Engines set to VTOL configuration. Engage liftoff sequence._

* * *

"As you can see, since we allowed him to regain consciousness there's been a low-level synchronisation link to Unit Seven, as well as something else we haven't yet identified." Ristuko stood before the Commander's desk, vaguely wishing that he'd cave in and get another chair in the room. "Separate from this, he's also used the network connection we gave him through his arm to access everything he could on the local net, and then connected to Unit Seven's own computers."

The Commander stared at her, impassively. As per usual, his hands were folded in front of his face. "It will not be a problem," he said. "Continue." _And now I'm glad we're going to dinner later, _thought Ritsuko.

"We allowed him to launch that little toy of his, mostly so that he doesn't figure out what we're doing." She'd been rather proud of that decision. "I also want to see just how much control he has over the drone. Anyway, we were able to do a much more comprehensive examination while he was unconscious."

"Make it short."

"The damage to the irreplaceable parts of his body has increased, but it seems the berserker state also allowed him to heal the replaceable bits. In addition, I was able to do full MRI and CAT scans, as well as the brainwave monitoring you can see on the screen." The tablet on the desk shifted to show the patient's brainwaves. "As we suspected, there's been major neurological damage. Entire sections of his brain are inactive, it's a miracle the kid's even alive." It was worse than that, but she wasn't going to admit not knowing something, **especially** not to the Commander. "Genetics-wise, he checks out as we suspected. He should be perfect."

"Very well." Even the Commander's dismissal sent shivers down the scientist's spine.

Ritsuko left promptly.

* * *

Asuka Langley Sorhyu was bored. That wasn't new; she'd been bored a lot in her life.

She sat at her school desk, listening to the teacher repeat something she knew for the fiftieth time.

"-and Second Impact marked the end of the so-called "Post-Cold War" era, and pushed humanity straight into the Impact Wars," the man droned. "I'll be covering those next week. For now, I'll talk about the "Post-Cold War" era."

He'd done this lecture last week, and the week before. Asuka was reliably informed that the teacher had been repeating the same introductory lecture every week for the past three years. _Cutting-edge school my ass. _She sighed, and let her head fall onto the desk. _Not that my old teachers were much different._

"-in 1991. This set the scene for increased American interventionism throughout the globe." The teacher paused. _That's odd._

"Yes?" he asked, pointing at a raised hand.

It was Tatyana. _That Russian kill-stealing bitch_.

"What was Impact like?"

The teacher visibly rocked at the question. "That... will be covered in later-"

"You repeat the same lecture over and over again," the Russian said, her words thickly-accented. "No-one will answer this question when I ask. What was Impact like?"

Silence. The teacher stared off into space, frozen in place.

"I think you broke him," Toji joked. "Can we get-"

"You're a pilot, Russian girl?" The teacher sounded completely different, somehow clearer. Tatyana nodded.

"So, you have been in a fight. Imagine you're facing an Angel, and you're losing. It's massive, you can't get through its AT Field, and every time you try to move it's there, facing you."

_That would never happen. _Asuka really couldn't imagine a situation where she'd be losing so badly.

"Now imagine you're on foot, but the Angel's just as big as ever. You try to run, but your body won't move. You try to think of something else as it pushes into your mind, but every thought just gets overwritten until there's nothing left, and you start seeing into **its** mind and it doesn't even see you as a person, just another ant it stepped on.

Then, it screams.

You look for your friends, and half of them are just **gone**. Liquefied."

The old man trailed off, panting for breath.

"**That** is what Impact was like."

* * *

Michael had told the MAGI that he'd be doing a recon flight. He wasn't exactly lying; his drone's cameras and other instruments were sending data back to the command centre, and he was flying along a patrol route.

That he was also having the best time of his life was something no-one needed to know.

The Taranis drone he was currently possessing was a heavily-modified prototype of the Royal Air Force's long-range drone, given to him after he'd crashed the last one. He'd had the airframe modified for VTOL flight, with special thrust-vectoring nozzles placed along the fuselage. It had cut down on the drone's speed and range, as well as replacing the last model's orbital manoeuvring thrusters, but none of that was particularly important to him. The internal weapon bays had been re-purposed for the equipment needed for him to control it remotely with his mind, but space had been kept free for a small weapon and there was always the possibility of external hardpoints.

Actual combat effectiveness hadn't been the primary aim of the project. He'd justified it as a "technology demonstrator", to show off the possibilities of neural linkage.

If he was being honest with himself, however, he'd admit that he just wanted to fly.

The endless tests and redesigns had been worth it. He pulled the drone up into a climb, feeling the ailerons strain against the wind. He span, pirouetting like a dancer, and opened up the front-most nozzles for a second just as he began to stall. He flipped, end over end, cut the engine and let himself free-fall. His airframe began to complain, and he let it. The collision detector told him there were four more seconds until he hit the ground.

Three more seconds.

Keenly aware of the limits of his connection, he opened all the VTOL jets and pushed the massively powerful engine to its limit.

Two.

One.

Heart racing, he kept the aircraft just a few centimetres from the ground. He eased the engine off, and lowered the landing gear.

He sat, perched on a mountain like a bird.

* * *

Rose woke.

It was not a fast process, like she was used to. Instead, she slowly became aware of her surroundings; it seemed she was in a hospital room. She gathered enough energy to open her eyes.

One of them didn't open.

_Odd_, she idly thought. _I got shot in the stomach, so I can't have hurt my eye. What happened after that, anyway?_

She closed her eye again, and tried to think. The memory came, all at once.

_A deafening roar as she fell to the ground, and the enemy scattered. She passed out. Explosions. Debris hitting her in the face, the pain waking her up. Another roar, then the sound of gunfire. Michael, covered in blood, pulling a man's leg off like part of a toy. Michael, armour pitted and dented, ignoring bullet after bullet as he slowly strode towards the last soldier._

_Michael, laughing, standing atop a pile of corpses and gore._

_Michael, a grin on his face, crushing the man's throat. _

_Oh, __**shit**__._

Rose forced her body to move.

* * *

Shinji clutched the control paddles of Unit 01 as he turned into the third leg of his patrol route. It was rather boring; aside from Unit 07's drone buzzing him as it flew past, nothing had happened. Instead, he'd decided to use the time to think, and to download every last scrap of data the MAGI would let him access.

Especially the readings from Unit 07 itself.

_So,_ he thought as Unit 01 walked, _what do I know and how do I know it. AT Fields are partially EM radiation, partially sonic waves and partially something else that no-one seems to bother explaining._

_That assumes anyone else knows what that "something else" even is._

_Measurements with my equipment were enough to determine that. AT Fields can cancel each other out, or rather neutralise each other in some areas. I have no idea how they do that, just that they do. In order to project an AT Field, you need a core and a large amount of energy – that's how both the Evas and the Angels do it. I don't know what the core is, other than that it's not made of a material that makes much sense. _

He sighed, taking a lungful of LCL.

_There are references to something called an "S2 Organ" in the files. I have no idea what that is, either, aside from that it seems to be an energy generator. The Angels also seem to have some way of turning energy into matter efficiently, or they just have enough energy to waste it. The Evas also seem to have some sort of internal reserve – probably chemical energy locked into their biological cells, rather than some external source, but enough to get it to move._

That train of thought was going no-where. He'd been over this before.

_So let's focus on the pilots. Fourteen year-olds. All seem to have lost a parent, or both. _

Getting the new pilots to talk about that had been surprisingly easy.

_Normally, they're also the only children in their families. Rei and Michael are the exception, and they're apparently twins. Might be useful to use this knowledge to find reserve pilots._

_Need to get Akagi to do tests regarding cross-synchronisation. Hmm. Michael was able to sync from outside his Eva. Seems to be instantaneous, although I'm sure it wasn't. Need to do research on that. Trigger for external sync seemed to be his co-pilot getting injured – might indicate a low-level constant synchronisation between the two and possibly Unit Seven. Need to monitor them._

_Need more tests, need more data. Switch topic. LCL. What does it-_

"Hey, Shinji, you alright?" Misato's voice boomed in his ear. Unit 01 staggered a little as Shinji jumped in shock, and he sputtered.

"Wha... what?" he managed to stammer out. _Damn it. I'm quite easily one of the the leading experts about the AT Field on the planet, and I can barely keep a coherent conversation._

"You jumped about ten points with your sync ratio! What's going on?" Misato looked concerned over the video screen. _We haven't been home together much for a while. Why's she so concerned?_

"I was just thinking some stuff over," he replied.

"Oh? Like Rei?" That response triggered the usual panic. _Hell, I told that soldier she was my girlfriend pretty easily. How come this happens when Misato of all people brings it up?_

"Sort of," he said, forcing the panic down. "Running over some ideas." _I should take this opportunity to-_

"Like... date ideas?" Misato didn't seem to be letting go.

"Ikari. It is up to you to plan the next date." That was Rei, piloting Unit 00 some kilometres away. _Like I know how to plan a date._ Shinji sighed again, but smiled._ I suppose she didn't either._

"I'll get right on that. But that wasn't my idea." He forced the sentences out, making sure he planted the seeds. "We should do some cross-synchronisation tests, see if we can pilot each other's units. That way, we don't get caught out if an Angel attacks and one of our pilots is down and we've got a spare."

"That's... actually a pretty good idea. I'll suggest it to Rits next time I see her." That was Misato on board, at least.

_Now I just need to figure out what synchronisation even __**is**__, then I can see if I can get all of us remote-piloting. I'll also need to find a way around the Angels' radio interference. Might be worth looking at how Michael controls that drone._

With that, he slipped back into thought.

* * *

Plodding along at a steady pace, Rei swept Unit 00's rifle across her field of vision. She'd seen the soldiers on Okinawa Beach do something similar, constantly moving their guns to cover every angle, and the idea had stuck. She listened with her usual focus to the conversations being played out over the radio, but didn't join in. Her replacement on the patrol schedule was moving to meet her, the Russian boy by the sound of it.

"You see, in Russia, it is the Army units who patrol. Not Evangelion." Ivan seemed to be complaining, like the other pilots liked doing whenever the patrols came up. Rei didn't mind as much; it was time to think and observe.

"Uh-huh," Misato said, "And what happened last time we let you pilots slack off?"

"We Russians do not slack off. This is Capitalist disease."

"And you're not a Communist. Seriously, it's been twenty-five years."

The debate continued, and Rei stopped paying much attention. She guided Unit 00 back to its hangar, and opened a channel to Unit 01.

"I will be cooking tonight," she said. "If Captain Ayanami is recovered by this evening, I would like to invite him and the Commander, too." It was short notice, but that was why she was bringing it up now. Shinji wouldn't accept otherwise.

"Uh... o-okay..." came the reply, just as she'd expected. "I don't think my Father's going to accept, though."

"He will not refuse." Rei was confident of that much, at least. The Commander was planning a trip soon, and prior experience showed that he would at least offer to dine with her. Thus, it was time to put the next phase of her plan into action.

* * *

The door creaked.

Michael sent a mental command to his drone, telling its autopilot to bring it back to Unit 07. One of the positive side-effects of the equipment needed for him to control it was that it had a very comprehensive AI, bordering on true sentience.

The door to his hospital room finished opening, and someone stepped through. A woman, judging by the sound of the footsteps. Heels, rather than boots. Their clothes rustled – cloth, not paper, so not Rose. A lab coat?

The woman moved with confidence – not Maya, she would be too weirded out to approach so easily. Katsuragi preferred combat boots, and the nurses wore slippers. Come to think of it, the female NERV uniform didn't call for heels anyway. All the female Navy officers who'd been transferred over would be too busy to visit, and again, their uniform called for boots.

That left Akagi.

He would have greeted the woman, but whatever had him paralysed also meant he couldn't speak. Dr. Akagi walked over to his bed, and paused. Slowly, his muscles started working.

Tensing, ready for combat, he opened his eyes. He was right.

"Good morning, Michael. How did you sleep?" The Doctor seemed... off, somehow. Strange.

"It's mid-afternoon. You're too alert for it to be morning, and you don't smell of smoke as much as you normally do. Either you've pulled an all-nighter, or you haven't had a break in a while. My body clock says it's been fourteen hours and eighteen minutes since... well, since I let the other guy out." That little tirade would serve two purposes – it should set the tone of the conversation, making it clear he was aware she knew what he'd done, and it also told Akagi that he wasn't suffering from a concussion.

"The "other guy"? Has this happened before?" Akagi was direct. Michael liked that.

"Not outside of the Eva, as far as I know. Used to happen all the time when I was piloting, before Rose became my co-pilot. The slightest injury was enough to send me berserker; I told them it was something that wasn't part of me, that I wasn't responsible." Honesty of a sort would work best here, to distract Akagi. "I'm not sure how much of that was true."

"I'm looking into that." Damn, she even sounded like she was trying to help.

He could hear footsteps outside. One pair, bare feet. They were favouring one leg, and walking with a cane.

Rose.

Things were about to get messy.

* * *

Gendo stared at Rei.

Rei stared at Gendo.

"This proposal is serious," Gendo said, breaking the silence. Even he couldn't compete against the girl in this situation.

"Yes."

Damn the girl. "Very well. This evening."

Rei turned, and walked to the door. She turned. "There is an Angel coming."

"I am aware." That was another annoying thing; the Angels were attacking far faster than they should be. It had barely been a day since the last one. "Its appearance now is not an issue."

That was actually a lie; the scrolls made clear that the Angels would not attack in such a quick succession, not that anyone else needed to know that. For now, it would suffice to keep them in the dark, which also meant making sure none of them knew about the Angel's approach.

"It..." Rei broke off. "It is not going to be easy."

"I am aware. Try to survive."

* * *

Rose stepped into the hospital room, pistol already aimed at him. _Centre mass,_ she thought, _just like he taught me. Good thing I can still use my right eye.  
_

The boy looked at her. He was calm, collected, hands folded across his chest. Doctor Akagi jumped back from the bed, her hands already raised. _I'll have to explain this after._ Her finger tightened on the trigger-

"You're not going to shoot me."

_Fuck._

She relaxed her grip.

"You're the one who asked me to," she countered uselessly. "Do you want me to quote what you said?"

"Go right ahead. I'll tell you why it doesn't apply." He wasn't even concerned. _It's like this doesn't even bother him. Like he doesn't even __**care**__ that his closest friend was about to shoot him. _

_Bastard._

"You said, and I quote exactly, "If I'm ever like that again, shoot me." Right after Jerusalem, in the hospital. I know you remember."

"And yet, I'm not like that. It was temporary. Isn't that right, Doctor?" Michael didn't look at Akagi as he spoke. _Does he even realise what he does?_

"In a strict sense, yes," Akagi said, as though this wasn't a foregone conclusion. "Although I'm not going to rule out the possibility of it happening again."

"It happened because one of us got injured. It won't happen again." He paused, and cocked his head. "Does anyone else hear that?"

There was nothing to hear. She let her finger tighten again-

"What?" _Damn it Akagi. Don't let him talk his way out of this. _But, of course, the good Doctor just had to have opened her mouth.

"The music. It's faint, but... beautiful." He looked up. "It's coming from up there. Damn, I almost know this song..."

The door behind Rose opened, and she span to face the newcomer. _Finger off the trigger. Maintain discipline._

It was Rei.

_Great. Another one._

Michael perked up as her saw her. "You hear it too, right?"

"I have orders, Captain." She held out a piece of paper to Rose, ignoring the gun. She took the paper, and holstered the pistol.

"Take the magazine out and put the safety on," Michael said, off-handedly. He got up off the bed, and took the paper. "Really, sis? Dinner with the boyfriend's family, and you're bringing **me** along?"

Rose sighed, and safed the gun. There was nothing else for her to do here, so she stepped out the door. Weirdly enough, Akagi followed her.

"You said this happened before?" the Doctor asked. "He told me it only happened before you were his co-pilot."

_Of course he would. _"Did he tell you what happened after that little escapade in Jerusalem?"

"He told Maya, who told me. He cut his own arm off to stop an Angel infection. I don't see how that's relevant." Rose grimaced as Akagi spoke. _This is going to be difficult, then._

"His arm turned into a blue mass of flesh, and he was screaming in pain. Not the roar of anger you heard, a real scream. Then, he took out his combat knife – I didn't even know he had one – and started cutting it off." _How do I phrase this so it sticks with her? _"He got to the bone – and remember, I'm still feeling all of this myself - and stopped screaming. Do you know what he did instead?"

Akagi shook her head.

"He **laughed**." She took a careful breath. "I wake up in the middle of nearly every single night, and it's always the same **fucking** dream that wakes me up these days. St. Louis, and Jerusalem. It's not fair on him; he's normally just a dedicated child soldier, but when he gets like that..."

"You're scared of him," Akagi stated.

"Wouldn't you be?"

* * *

"I will, of course, have to do a few things before arriving. I may be late." Michael mentally scanned his sister. She looked tired, but held herself like she didn't even notice_. _She was scanning and re-scanning the room, constantly – he made a mental note to keep everything neutral.

Michael could still hear that amazingly beautiful music. He'd never really seen the point of it before; much like everything civilian it seemed... useless. Now, he was beginning to understand.

"Yes," Rei said. Michael wondered what that meant; the phrase was generic enough that he was genuinely confused.

He refrained from sighing. "Please also be aware that it'll be heavy on business talk. It might not be the romantic dinner you're thinking of."

"Pilot Ikari is in charge of our next romantic outing. This is my own personal project." That seemed to be all the explanation the girl was going to offer. She turned, and left, leaving Michael alone.

Not that he minded, right now.

He needed to plan, but knew he couldn't. There was the risk of the _other_ twisting it to its own ends.

There were footsteps outside. Rei was leaving, as was Rose. One set, however, made its way into his room.

"I forgot to mention. You're free to go whenever," the Doctor said, hand in pocket. "You still have those pills I had delivered?"

Michael nodded.

"Keep taking them. There's some more neural damage from whatever happened yesterday, but it seems it might not be too much of a problem."

That was... cryptic.

Michael thought on it for a moment, trying to figure out what it meant.

Giving up, he opened his mouth to ask Akagi, but she was already gone.

* * *

Shrugging off her gunbelt, Misato collapsed onto her apartment's sofa with her customary celebratory cry. _It's so rare to have the apartment to myself these days, _she thought. "Pen-Pen! Get your ass over here!"

Her original room-mate slowly waddled up to her, two cans of beer in his flippers. "That's a good penguin," she said, taking the offered beer and cracking it open. "Tell you what, you and me are going to make such a mess! We're putting this place back to how it should be!"

Despite her efforts, she found her mind drifting back to the photograph. _He doesn't look like he's nineteen. Hell, he still looks a lot like Rei._ She forced herself to take another can of beer from the fridge. _And I'm beginning to see just how weird that resemblance is; she's not exactly androgynous. Ah, fuck it all. _

She grabbed another beer.

* * *

International Storage and Import Services was the sort of company that thrived in the post-Impact world. There were two key reasons for this. The first was simple; people found themselves displaced across entire continents, and needed to find their possessions. They also needed to pass on messages, or store things in case there was a Third Impact. So, demand was rather high for a something along ISIS's lines.

The second reason was that their employees were all heavily-armed, highly-trained and able to keep a secret. At least, that was the image the company maintained.

"So, I'm going to need one of you to go into locker 31-C and clean it out. Turns out some asshole put like fifty tonnes of cheese in there; it's when Pam brought that yoghurt in for lunch. Seriously though, if that thing isn't cleaned out by this afternoon I will literally rip someone in half." The man sitting behind the desk slammed the phone down and looked up at Michael.

"So... are you a guy or a girl? Because if you're a girl over the age of eighteen-"

"I'm male," Michael replied. _I'm sure I recognise this guy from somewhere._

"Seriously? Because I can overlook the flat chest if you're a girl."

"I'm a guy, and I'm fourteen. Do you not keep up with the news or something?"

"I'll be honest, everything past 1969 is kind of a blur. I don't even know how I got here," the clerk said. Michael was about sixty percent sure that he was joking.

"Okay, regardless, I kind of need access to a storage lot."

The clerk wasn't paying any attention, however. "Yeah, that's actually kind of worrying. I told them all those loud noises next to my eardrums would cause permanent brain damage, but they all just thought I was whining. Bastards."

Michael waited patiently as the man went into a spiel about every single one of his co-workers.

"-and don't get me started on Mother. God, she's such a bitch. Anyway, what can I do you for?"

_At this rate, murder._ Michael forced the irritation down, forcefully. "57-65-82," he said. "There should be a lot associated with that sequence. I want it."

The employee tapped at his keyboard, and nodded.

"Alright, head up through the doors. Someone'll take you to whatever fucked-up collection of sex toys you've managed to hide away here."

Michael didn't even bother saying "thanks" as he left.

* * *

"Things are moving faster than they should be." The voice from behind Keel Lorenz's shoulder whispered into his ear.

_It is no matter,_ he thought. The room shook even at that. _Those who are the key are loyal to the King, and the King will not succeed in rebelling against the Emperor._

"But what of the Soldier?"

_The Soldier is irrelevant. The Soldier will do as he is bid, as all soldiers do._

Tiles fell from the ceiling, breaking the circle of power keeping the rest of the cottage safe. Keel Lorenz pushed them back with a thought.

"You should let me go. I can ensure that our plans will succeed."

_I know what you want. _A flash of anger. That was good, Keel Lorenz thought he'd burned all his emotions out decades ago.

"I will not allow anyone to manipulate me," he thundered, shattering the walls of the room. Another thought fixed them, too. "That includes you."

The boy behind him cowered as Keel Lorenz's power washed over him.

* * *

"_Well... hello, future Michael, I guess." _Admiral Jones stepped away from the camera, and sat at a desk. A man in a labcoat walked over to stand next to him.

"_If you're listening to this, I'm probably dead. On top of that, it means that things have really not gone well on my end, and it's up to you to fix everything."_

"Like there was any doubt," Michael commented dryly.

"_So, here's how this is going to work. There's a reason you can't remember anything before we put you in the Evangelion, aside from the obvious one."_

The scientist on the screen spoke up. _"We've spent the past five years or so implanting certain bits and pieces of knowledge in your head. You don't want to know how. The upshot of it is, you have knowledge that SEELE won't be able to detect. If we didn't do it this way, they'd know everything the moment you synchronised with Unit 07. As it is, we're going to drip-feed you. You'll remember certain creatures during the process. Stop the tape when you remember the last one you encountered, and only do one creature per day."_

"_The process of remembering is going to be painful and rather complicated, so make sure you're somewhere safe before starting," _the scientist continued. _"Michael, it's time!"_

On the screen, a smiling child with blue hair and red eyes ran up and scrambled onto the desk.. _"Hey hey, future-me! Okay, so I'm going to say a bunch of weird words, and you need to repeat them after me."_

In the present, Michael just stared at the video screen. The boy couldn't have been him; just trying to walk quickly had been too painful to do for fun for a very long time.

"_Here goes. Hope you're ready! First name: Sachiel."_

"Sachiel," Michael repeated, feeling fooli-

_The Third – no, Fourth? Angel, the bipedal invader, energy lances extended._

_SEELE, the organisation dedicated to bringing about a controlled Third Impact under the guise of "Human Instrumentality". GEHIRN, the research arm of SEELE, developing the Artificial Humanoid Evangelion to further SEELE's goal. NERV, the military arm of SEELE, taking over GEHIRN after an accident involving Evangelion Unit 01._

_The Dead Sea Scrolls, and the First Prophecy._

-ish.

Pain flooded through his body, and he fell to the floor.

"_Second na-"_

Michael pushed himself up, and shut the VHS tape off.

* * *

Rei was cooking. Shinji was present, but was letting her do the work.

Those facts alone were enough to make Misato question her sanity. On top of that, Rei had told her that the Commander of all people was coming to visit.

That at least explained Shinji being more neurotic than normal. The boy had hidden away all of the scientific equipment that was still clogging up the hallway, and was in the process of cleaning the entire apartment for the third time while muttering to himself.

"So... neither of you thought to ask me if this was okay before doing this?" Misato asked. Shinji looked up at her, and started vibrating. That, at least, was familiar.

"Er... oh... erm... I'm sorry, I thought Rei had..." he trailed off, brain caught in a loop.

"Ah, never mind. It'd have just been an order otherwise. Just... ask me before inviting the Commander over next time, okay?"

There was a knock at the door.

Showtime.

* * *

"Really? And I bet you're the type who thought the Nazis should have won the Second World War because of the Tiger and Me.262. You're completely forgetting about economics; you can't form any sort of military strategy without comparing your economic strength with your enemy's! Relying on a wonder-weapon is the act of an idiot."

"You annihilated the United States military by yourself. The US had a far superior economy, yet you beat them using technological means."

Misato sighed, and downed another beer. The argument had started after Rose had made some comment about how the Angels were the only reason why the Evangelion pilots still had a job, and the Commander of all people disagreed. Michael had stepped in, and things had gone downhill from there.

"We both know that was a one-off. It was a close call, too – all it would have taken is a single well-aimed bullet at any point from Birmingham to the St. Lawrence Gulf and the Americans would have won the war. Hell, if they'd have poured their money into actually getting their Evas operational before St. Louis instead of building Morris' monuments to his own ego, they'd have had two working Evangelions versus the ETF's one," the blue-haired boy argued as if they hadn't debated this point three times before.

"Unit 07 was technologically superior to the proposed designs for Units 03 and 04. You beat Unit 04 in combat, and Unit 03 was a threat only because of the Third Angel."

"Actually, I beat Unit 07. He just went berserker, which is kind of cheating," Rose interjected. Misato still hadn't gotten used to the gauze pad over her left eye. "Not that you have a point, Mikey; real wars are won through willpower and determination. You were determined not to die, so you didn't. The Nazis pushed the Soviets against the wall, and they fought back."

"So did the Poles in 1939! They had two enemies surrounding them who wanted nothing more than to carve up their country like a roast chicken! They should have been more determined than anyone, and yet Poland fell in a month."

"I wouldn't think it would be easy to fight off the two largest armies in the world." That was from Shinji, who had stayed out of the argument until then. "The Second World War was seventy years ago. Now, wars are fought with giant robots and space-based weapons; no country can make more than a few, no matter how rich they are, so it all comes down to the pilot's skill."

"Says the pilot with the highest Angel kill-count. Seriously, you should start painting them on the entry plug or something." Rose sat back, setting her bowl on the table. "That was good, Rei, I don't think I've eaten a proper meal in ten years."

Michael shot her a hurt look, but Rei spoke before he could. "I observed how Shinji cooked, and tried to replicate his movements," she said.

"I have heard good reports about your cooking, Shinji." Everyone in the room, including Pen-Pen, turned to look at the Commander. "It seems you get that from myself, and not Yui."

* * *

The dinner party had turned out to be an extremely useful opportunity for Gendo. With a simple argument and a few words of praise, he'd done more to further his aims than he'd accomplished in the past year.

"What was Mom like?" his son asked. Rei was sitting next to him, her right arm ready to push him to safety if anything happened. He could read her like a book. The others took only slightly more effort.

"She was the first person I met who I didn't immediately dislike, even though she was the kindest." That question had been too close to the mark, the wounds were still fresh. "I never saw her cry, not even after Second Impact. She was a brilliant scientist, and she was a terrible cook." Inwardly, he pushed back the memories of the four short years they had been a family. Those memories were painful, and he could never get that back.

"Looks like you got the best of both worlds, Shinji" Captain Katsuragi said, beaming.

"I guess," his son mumbled. Gendo watched as Rei took hold of his hand under the table, and mentally sighed.

He would have to do something about that, if nothing else.

* * *

"So, how does the dual-pilot system work, anyway?" Shinji ventured. "I mean, according to conventional synchronisation theory, it shouldn't actually be possible – the pilots would have to think exactly the same thing at exactly the same time in order to even move the Evangelion, but-"

Captain Ayanami held up a hand to stop the flow of tech-talk. "I'm not into the technical side of things, I just pilot it," he said. "That said... Rose?"

"Conventional synchronisation theory posits a two-way connection between Pilot and Eva," Rose said, picking up almost before the Captain had finished. "With Unit 07's system, the connection between Pilot and Eva is still two-way, but instead of the Pilot being one mind, it's a gestalt entity made up of two minds. The Pilots synchronise together using the same technology – it's like if you synchronised with Unit 01 and then the both of you synchronised with Unit 00."

"That's... surprisingly elegant," Shinji said. "And actually obvious, if you know that you can sync two people together. What sort of benefits do you get from it, though? It's a more complex system, so there has to be something."

"That one I can answer," Captain Ayanami said. "Mental stability, for a start. Unit 07 was notoriously unstable – the slightest wound could cause it to go berserker, and the longer I piloted it, the angrier I got. That problem hasn't been an issue since we started the dual-pilot system. On top of that, we've got three different brains linked to the same network, along with three bodies – the gains in raw processing power alone are exponential rather than linear, or something along those lines. The result is that we're a lot faster with all three of us than just two, and we can focus on more things."

Rose took over. "It's proven technology, and not really something that can be further developed – adding more brains to the network is probably going to result in ego border problems. Hells, we're already way too in sync sometimes."

"Enough of the business talk already," Misato carefully enunciated. "The thing that's really getting me is... what the hell is your last name, anyway?"

Rose looked down at her empty bowl, and Michael stepped in. "She doesn't have one. It's-"

"It's because I'm a war orphan," Rose said. Shinji took note that she didn't interrupt her co-pilot; she spoke precisely into the gap between his words, and he immediately stopped talking. "We were... inducted... into the military en masse; it's something the British are as culpable of as the Amercians, but the American innovation was taking every remnant of the child's previous life away."

"Whereas the Royal Army – let's not get into **that** mess – just handed out as many Sten-IIs as it could make to whoever was around," Michael commented.

"Aaand this conversation is way more depressing than I hoped it would be," said Misato. "Seriously, don't you two ever lighten up?"

"I seem to recall Mikey here lightening up back on Okinawa Beach," Rose answered. "Where did you wake up, exactly?"

"In a perfectly safe place," said Michael, "besides, I'm still at a loss as to how that happened. I don't remember ordering anything alcoholic."

"And yet you still managed to get black-out drunk. I'm pretty sure that's illegal, and weren't you on duty?"

"No to both, actually." Michael shot a smile around the room, his gaze lingering on the Commander. "I retroactively gave myself the day off. Being in charge really does have some perks sometimes."

Misato let out a sigh, and nearly knocked over the pile of empty cans in front of her. "Soooooo... you two, what's with you?"

Captain Ayanami glared, trying to forestall the inevitable question, but she continued anyway; "Are you dating or what?"

Rose sat up straight and looked away.

"That's... not something that's going to happen," Captain Ayanami stressed, drawing looks from across the room.

"Why not?" That was from Rei of all people. "You were quite enthusiastic when I informed you of my relationship."

"You **were** just saying how mentally intimate you were," Shinji said, smiling.

Michael floundered around for an explanation that wouldn't spoil the mood. Or worse, make it seem like he hated her. "Well-"

Everyone's phones rang, and the sirens blared.


	21. Chapter 21

The party split up; the pilots filtered into one elevator while Misato and the Commander entered another, Misato downing a third detoxification pill as she walked. Michael fired off a quick salute as they parted, and hit the button that would take them all down to the Eva bays.

"Rose," he commanded. The girl unslung the bag over her shoulder, and unzipped it, revealing a pair of armoured plugsuits and helmets.

"Sorry, we don't have your suits," Michael continued, "I want you two out five minutes after we get down, okay?"

The other two pilots nodded assent.

"We should have a basic plan up by the time you get on the scene. I'll put markers up for your HUD, follow them. If you lose comms, remember that protecting humanity is our primary goal." The blue-haired boy started stripping out of his uniform.

"Try not to get killed out there, as well. Shinji, take a melee loadout. Rei, you're on long-range support – don't get too close. Let us take down the AT Field and you try to snipe the core."

Shinji tried to look away from the Captain, but the only other place to look was right at Rose, who was also stripping. Taking the lesser of two potentially-dangerous paths, he tried to not pay too much attention. That was not as easy as it sounded – even if Shinji had no sexual interest in male anatomy, the severe scars that riddled the boy's body captured his interest. Some of them were clearly battle wounds – entry and exit wounds from bullets, a few deep cuts and, of course, a few scars around the stump of his left arm – but some looked... surgical. Shinji could see wires and circuits just beneath the Captain's skin, and what were clearly access points for cables.

A soft _click_ caught his attention, and he turned. Rose had finished putting on her suit, somehow before Michael even started. She moved to help him, holding the bottom part of the armour while he stepped into it. After that, the procedure was nearly complete; Rose slid the top half of the suit over Michael's head, and he attached the two together at the waist. She stepped back, and the two clicked their helmets on.

A few seconds passed in silence. Rei took Shinji's hand, and squeezed it reassuringly.

"I..."

She trailed off, unable to vocalise the thought with others present.

"Alright," Michael interrupted, "Looks like we're getting reports from the MAGI and the patrol Evas. It seems to be some sort of kamikaze weapon; it's falling from orbit and accelerating towards us." The elevator doors opened. "I'll give you a full summary later, get to your Evas."

"Yes, sir," Rei acknowledged. Shinji followed a second later, and tried out a salute.

* * *

"That was weird," Rose commented as the two walked towards the Evangelion launch bays. They had both been cleared to walk unaided, but running was still beyond them. "And, probably the sloppiest salute I've ever seen."

"It's a good sign," said Michael idly, trying to ignore the slight discolouration in Rose's armour over her wound. "Means he's starting to see me as his commander, which when everything inevitably goes to shit is going to be a massive help."

"Always a plan for everything, right? Even though you're the "let's all work together for the greater good" sort of guy?"

"I'm a realist." Michael reached out with his arm and pulled Rose slightly closer. "I'm beginning to suspect that NERV is even less innocent than we thought. Stay on your guard until all this is over." Conscience appeased, he stepped up the pace again.

* * *

"Unit 07 has launched. ETA 10 seconds. All Eva units, prepare for further instructions."

"Evacuation of inner city complete, setting buildings to fortress mode."

"Power situation nominal. Synchronisation feeds reading as green across the board."

Li tried to tune out the voices coming over the radio to focus on his Evangelion, but it was damned hard when they insisted on talking every thirty seconds. To top it all off, those insufferable British assholes were going to be "co-ordinating" the operation, which meant constant requests for status updates and location reports and a billion other things he didn't care about.

Beside his Evangelion, Unit 07 slid to a halt from its launch sequence. Explosive bolts fired, and the special carry-case for the Trebuchet cannon dropped from its shoulder.

Li moved Unit 08 over to the slightly smaller figure, and pulled a power cable from its back.

"Unit 08 is ready," he reported tersely. "Unit 09 is currently providing cover for the Positron Cannon."

"Acknowledged," came the reply – he couldn't tell if it was the boy or the girl – and then: "Reactor status green. Communications are currently stable. Preparing to stream MAGI analysis across wireless network; prepare for incoming data-link."

A window popped up on the side of his entry plug, asking him for confirmation. Li accepted, and a 3D model of the Angel and its possible approach vectors appeared in front of him. He took note of the numbers listing its estimated mass and velocity, and keyed open his comms.

"Have you taken a look at the data, Seven?" he asked.

"Working on it. A little busy." They even sounded like it. "Final system checks on Positron Cannon are complete, ready to fire on command. What were you saying, Eight?"

"If that thing hits, it **will** be an extinction event - with or without Third Impact. We're looking at kinetic energy measured in... what's 10 to the power of 21?" He punched the numbers into the on-board calculator as he spoke.

"A 1 with 21 zeros after it?" There was an audible pause, and some inaudible swearing. "MAGI says that's Zettajoules of energy – what the fuck is a Zettajoule? - and are saying they forgot to do the kinetic energy equation somehow. Well, I was working on the idea of shooting the Angel out of the air, but it looks like we'll need something a bit better."

"Angel will enter the battle zone in t-10 minutes," one of the drones at HQ said.

"Why don't you catch it?" NERV's actual operations commander asked.

"There's no way-"

"Wha-"

"No-"

Objections and cries of disbelief crowded out the comm channels. Li thought on the idea a little. It could work...

"Well, unless someone can think of a better plan in the next ten minutes, we're doing it. What's the Commander's input?" That was odd, the British asking something like that was rare at best.

"The Commander left for an "unavoidable meeting,"" Captain Katsuragi answered.

"That's a good sign," Li said, sarcastically.

"You know, I'm actually inclined to believe that," said Unit 07's co-pilot. "He could have run off before, and hasn't."

"Cut the chatter," ordered Captain Ayanami. "Prepare for another data-link, Katsuragi is sending where she wants you."

* * *

"Units 01 and 00 have arrived at positions Theta and Iota. Final preparations complete. T-2 minutes until combat operations."

The last gasp of the summer day's light vanished as the generic NERV officer spoke. Shinji switched over to low-light vision, as the city's lights had been turned off in a futile attempt to deceive the Angel.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen," said Rose, "last chance to upload a will or any last messages."

"A will would be useless. If Angel hits, we all die." Ivan's slightly broken English mirrored Shinji's own thoughts.

Time passed in silence.

"T-thirty seconds until combat operations."

Shinji opened a private channel to Rei, carefully masking it as a standard data exchange.

"Hey," he said, lamely. Words that were clear in his head a few seconds ago disappeared on seeing her face.

"Shinji," she acknowledged.

Shinji pushed himself to speak. "I... I... Iloveyou!"

Damn it. Even now, he couldn't say it properly.

Rei smiled at him. "I-"

"CONTACT!"

* * *

The NERV Lieutenant's voice broke Michael out of the synchronisation loop for a second, and he had to force himself to regain focus. It wasn't easy, their individual injuries kept disrupting the loop.

He closed his eyes,

and opened Unit 07's.

The tactical part of the Evangelion's gestalt mind noted that most of the other Evas had already moved. That was good, the delay had not caused a problem. It broke into a slow, lumbering run as the bestial part of it was given more control. It could see the Angel now, a gigantic black dot in the sky that somehow – against all reason - stood out against the night.

"Angel is heading for position Iota's catchment area. All Units, divert course." The more distant part of its mind gave out the orders. The gestalt collapsed for a nanosecond as the beast felt the usual hunger at the other's voice, but the tactician out-manoeuvred it mentally – turning the hunger into anger and aiming it at the Angel - and forced it back into the fold.

"Unit 07, i- ev- hing- ght?" The message was distorted. The Angel must be close enough to sense the Evas hunting it with its field. The other sent an affirmative reply – there was no issue here.

The Angel would die.

* * *

Shinji ran.

In another time, he would have been running away from the Angel. Now, he ran towards it.

There was no thought, no cry of rage, no bestial snarl. Just the running. The timer beside him ticked down, slower and slower with each passing second. He no longer needed to look up to see where the Angel was; some distant part of him knew instinctively.

The Angel shed its first layer, sparks of darkness falling through the few wispy clouds. A gigantic multicoloured ball, guided by fins of the same blue material the Sixth Angel had been made of. It had changed course; before, it would have landed on the inner edge of Rei's area. Now, it would land on the outer edge.

There was something off about the Angel's descent, but Shinji could not spare the focus needed to work it out. He turned his attention to working out whether or not he would make it in time to help.

Unit 01 jumped off the top of a ridge, barely breaking stride as it hit the ground. Buildings and cars scattered in its wake like toys, and the boy sealed inside reached the inevitable conclusion.

He needed to go _faster_.

* * *

Unit 07 watched as the Angel released its fins, and unfurled itself. For a moment, all three parts of the gestalt were entranced as they gazed upon the titanic creature; a massive, multicoloured eye with two smaller eyes as wings. Then, the tactician noticed something.

The fins weren't disintegrating. Instead, they were on an intercept course for each of the Evangelions on the defending side. The other tried to pass this information on, and received only static; even the immensely powerful radar array carried by the giant was having trouble getting a solid return. The tactician made a choice, and brought the siege cannon into firing position.

One body flicked a switch, setting it to a fully-automatic firing mode, while the Evangelion itself slid to a halt and braced itself.

* * *

"-co-ng An- -t!"

Li's instincts kicked in, and he pushed Unit 08 sideways. A beam split the air where he had been a second earlier, and he scanned the area to see where it had come from. The Positron Cannon had been retracted back into the Geo-Front, so it had to be an attack from the Angel; except the beam had come from behind him as he ran towards it. He turned-

Another beam skimmed Unit 08's face, and he finally saw the culprit.

Chinese curses bounced off the walls of the entry plug. One Angel was bad enough, but two? No, there were even more; there were as many of the strange collections of polygons as there were Evangelions. Communications were down, there was a strict time limit, and the enemy was beginning to deal with the number advantage.

Things were not going well.

* * *

"Misato!" Shinji shouted, hoping his message got through.

He needed a clear run to the Angel's landing point – the city was too dense. He ignored the beams lancing around him until one caught him in the arm. He staggered, but kept going.

The city's armoured blocks began to rise from the floor, just as he needed them. A few steps, and he was airborne again and away from the city. He wasn't headed straight for the Angel any more, though, but that wasn't an issue; the city's flood-walls provided a banked turn for him. One more jump, and, then it would be a straight run-

The Angel fragment that had been shooting at him blocked his path. He finally snarled, and drew his knife, ready to fight.

Shells streaked past him, obliterating the Angel. Shinji didn't look back as he kept running, shaping his AT Field ahead of himself to streamline the airflow and clear any remaining obstacles.

He was nearly there.

* * *

Unit 07 could feel its ammunition reserves ticking down, two shells per second.

Five shells to deal with the Angel fragment attacking Unit 01, five apiece for Unit 00 and 02 – priority going to those closest to the main Angel. Spinning, it put two shells into the fragment headed straight for the gestalt. Thirteen shells left, and four Evas to help. All three bodies grinning, it lined up the next fragment and fired-

An explosion rocked it to the side, breaking the gestalt as the emergency shut-downs kicked in. Armour shattered, and the ruined wreck of the siege cannon fell to the ground.

* * *

Li spat rounds at the thing attacking him, glad that it didn't seem to be able to manifest an AT Field of its own. Even so, Unit 08's pistol wasn't doing much; he'd broken some of the smaller pieces, but actually killing the whirling strangeness was another matter.

He changed magazines, and sent a command to the grenade dispenser on the Eva's left wrist. Flicking the explosive – a modified super-heavy bomb – into "ARMED" mode, he waited for a chance. Unit 09 was headed towards him, having killed its own enemy, and it seemed the Russians were holding their own. He had lost track of the NERV Evas and Unit 07.

Unit 09 flanked the enemy, laying into it with rifle-fire.

And then Unit 09 was gone.

There was no time to react; Li threw the grenade and charged the Angel, scoring hits on the now-exposed core. Beams ran through him, detonating the grenade dispenser and one of the spare pistol magazines, but he kept firing.

* * *

Shinji skidded to a halt directly below the Angel. He had made it there before anyone else, thankfully.

"AT Field, maximum strength," he ordered, looking straight up.

Feeding every last joule of energy in Unit 01's systems into the core, he projected an opaque, rainbow-coloured shield into the path of the Angel.

Too close to change course, the Angel slammed into the shield. The sudden rush of air from the space between the two rang out in a thunderclap, lightning flashing from the impact point. The hill they clashed on became barren in a second, the sheer amount of energy being released turning trees and plants to ash.

The Angel deployed its own AT Field, and slowly pushed through the shield. A skeletal torso reached out for Unit 01. Shinji grabbed its hands, and pushed.

The ground beneath Unit 01 cracked, the armour plating making up the artificial hill's foundation unable to take the load. Despite this, Shinji was winning; the Angel was slowly being pushed away from the ground.

Changing tactics, the Angel sacrificed part of its own body as fuel, rocketing downwards. The pressure on Shinji's arms increased tenfold, but he refused to kneel. The Angel's arms became spears, coring through Unit 01's arms, but Shinji simply roared in defiance.

Eighteen seconds left on the clock. He needed to win this, and fast.

He pulled the Angel downwards, slamming Unit 01's head into the core.

No effect. Fifteen seconds.

An orange-painted arm reached past his head, and grasped the red sphere. A progressive knife slammed into the Angel's core, again and again.

Ten seconds.

Shinji pushed upwards, straining against the Angel's massive bulk. Eight seconds. The Angel rose into the sky painfully slowly, metre by metre. Five seconds. Running out of time, Shinji pulled downwards again, this time angling it towards Unit 00's knife.

Three seconds. The knife made contact, and started cutting.

Two seconds. Cracks spread across the core, which filled Shinji's focus.

One second.

The core shattered.

* * *

**Author's note - just skip ahead if you're just here for the story: **There'll be a chapter dealing with the aftermath of this fight later, possibly over Christmas depending on how busy the next two weeks get. Just in case people missed this, I will let slip a smallish spoiler: I am fully aware I never gave Unit 09's pilot a name. And now, I finally get to go to sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

Michael staggered backwards, clutching for something to steady himself. Blood flowed from his nose, dripping into his mouth, onto his naked torso and the tiles of the changing room. Reflexes pushed him into action, and he tackled the Chinese boy in front of him. His hand grasped the enemy's neck, ready to tear-

_NO._

His hand relaxed, and Michael stood up.

"And what precisely was that for?" he asked, forcing himself to ignore the blood pooling in his mouth.

"You let her die," Li snarled. "You didn't want to waste ammunition, did you? So you just helped out your sister and her boyfriend and LEFT THE REST OF US TO DIE!"

With a snarl, Li flicked his wrist. A knife slid into his hand, and the boy lunged for Michael's throat.

* * *

Shinji stood up, leaving the bouquet of flowers on his mother's grave, forcing himself to ignore the pain in his hands. He hadn't let Doctor Akagi treat his wounds before flying out here in a NERV VTOL, and he was sure to pay the price later.

Like the millions of other graves stretching out over the valley, the grave was a simple post hammered into the floor, with a small plaque bearing the deceased's name, date of birth and date of death. There was no body beneath the post; these were the graves of those who left none behind. The posts were packed tightly – Shinji barely had enough room to crouch – and few had flowers adorning them.

"Shinji," said his Father.

"Father," he acknowledged.

"It's been a while," Gendo said.

"Four years," replied Shinji. "The last time I came here. When I ran away."

"Indeed."

The two fell silent for a time. The wind blew softly through the artificial valley, and Shinji brushed his hair absently. He noted it needed a cut soon; the ends were getting frayed and split. The thought sparked something in his brain, and he mentally reviewed some designs he had planned out earlier. That, in turn, led to more thoughts, and soon Shinji was lost in the rabbit-hole of his own mind.

"Shinji," his Father prompted. Shinji came back to reality, and turned to look at his Father.

"She would have wanted you to have this," Gendo continued, holding out a small tape player. Shinji took it, confused.

"What is this? Why now?" he asked.

"Yui always used to listen to this, when nothing else needed her attention," his Father replied.

For a moment, Shinji thought his Father looked almost... wistful?

"I never found out what was on it. Even after she died, I never listened to it. She told me it was meant for her child. Besides, I never had any headphones."

The ghost of a smile crossed the man's face. "I thought it best to give it to you before one of us died in this war," he finished.

Shinji stared at the cassette player, noting the name. It was, apparently, a "Super Digital Audio Tape". He'd never seen something like this before; he used a fully-digital system for convenience's sake. A VTOL's roar forced him to surface to reality yet again. His Father was walking towards the landed transport as Rei disembarked.

"Dad!" Shinji called. Gendo turned, an eyebrow raised imperceptibly. "Thank you. I'm glad we talked."

The Commander stared for a moment.

"So am I," he said. "You did well out there."

* * *

Rose fell, clutching her forearm close. Li's knife had bit deep, tearing a gash right through the limb, but at least it hadn't hit its intended target. She was vaguely aware of Michael stepping in front of her. His eyes glanced over her wound quickly, then turned back to face Li.

"-overlook this just," her co-pilot was saying. The pain in her arm mingled with the pain on her right shoulder, and her eyes wouldn't focus. She strained to focus on Michael's words. "-understand that you were close. Do not take your need for revenge out on us."

_He's so damned calm. Bastard._ She chuckled weakly. _Maybe next time I won't save him. The look on his face would be priceless._

"You are dismissed, Sergeant Jian. As are the rest of you."

Rose closed her eyes as the other pilots left. _It would be so nice to just sleep here,_ she thought. _It would be so nice to not have to face tomorrow._

"There's no time for that, Lieutenant-Commander."

She forced her eyes open. Michael's face loomed in front of her – he couldn't be more than a few inches away. He smiled, and took her arm. Pain flashed out from the wound, and she screwed her eyes shut. She nearly missed the strange look on Michael's face; was that concern?

"This isn't too bad," he said. "A few more centimetres down and he'd have cut right across a vein. This should be alright with a bandage or two, and maybe an LCL pack."

She nodded off into unconsciousness as the boy picked her up and slung her across his shoulder. This time, she missed the faint smile that spread across his face.

* * *

"_And so the LORD sent his most loyal, most powerful servant to hunt the traitor. For centuries they searched, and for millennia the traitor evaded their pursuit. It came to pass that the LORD's servant came to rest in the Garden of Eden, far to the East."_

The words boomed through Michael's mind, and he staggered out of the door to NERV's hospital wing. He forced himself to stand; he no longer had time to waste being hospitalised, with all the work he needed to get done before the next Angel attacked. He flexed the fingers on his left hand, hoping there'd be something wrong with the repaired prosthetic. Anything to take his mind off of the constant visions and voices.

Nothing seemed wrong with the arm, at least. Akagi had done a good job, considering the state he'd given it to her in. If anything, it was more responsive than before. She'd even installed a wireless connection.

He connected back into NERV's internal network as he strode towards the conference centre he'd commandeered so long ago. Some of the paperwork could be dealt with that way, although he still had to whisper anything he wanted sent as text.

This, of course, meant a certain Asuka Langley Sorhyu was rather freaked out as she walked past the Captain, who seemed to be talking to himself. Especially when he didn't seem to notice their near-collision. She had intended to ask him to put her on the front lines next time, and maybe not steal any chance for glory from her. Now, all she wanted to do was to get away from him before he turned into a psychotic typhoon of death again.

"Pilot Sorhyu," said Michael, snapping his fingers. Fate, it seemed, had other ideas. "A quick word?"

* * *

_Shinji is quieter than usual. I doubt raising the subject of what he said during the last battle will achieve the results I need._ Rei had hoped this would not be the case. Some small part of her told the rest of her that if she let things proceed as they were, she would not like the result. Of course, the notion that she was partially responsible for the boy's state did not cross her mind. _I will raise the subject after we leave the area. _

Her mind turned to other things, with that decided. _These markers are sorted into alphabetical order. Katsuragi's car is parked at the "A" end of the "I" row. We are currently in the "H" area. There are approximately six hundred and seventy-six markers from here to the end of the "A" section – ten point eight three million total markers, twenty-six letters in the Roman alphabet by which this graveyard is sorted, then each letter is sub-divided into twenty-six letters again, and we have one-quarter of the row between us and the end of the "A" section. _

_If Shinji is upset, I should probably try to help. _The thought broke through her calculations, and she stopped for a second. Shinji carried on a few steps before noticing his companion was no longer walking beside him.

"Are you alright, Rei?" he asked.

_He is worried about me. I should assuage him. _Rei gave him a smile. "I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"Oh? You know, I'm kind of interested in what you're thinking about when you space out like that. You do it in class, as well." Shinji smiled back, and a familiar warm feeling spread through Rei's body.

"I was wondering what I should do next," she said. "I thought we could watch some films back at the apartment."

"I'd love to." Shinji reached out, and took Rei's hand.

* * *

"So, with Unit 09 destroyed, you're going to be on Unit 05's patrol schedule. I'm replacing Unit 09 with Unit 06 on Unit 08's. I'm going to be making a few more changes to the shifts, mostly so that you lot can keep going to school." Michael rolled his eyes at that. "Tell the others. I need to upload a bunch of stuff to the MAGI, work out a shift rotation with Katsuragi, find out what the hell happened to my gun out there, and on top of that find time to oversee repairs to Unit 07. I want it made clear that I do not have time for any more drama between the pilots."

Asuka glared at Michael. "You **did** get Mei killed. I'm not going to forget that, and neither will the others." _I am not going to let this psychotic shit-head keep telling me – __**ME**__ – what to do. _

"Mei was her name?" Michael shrugged, dismissing the issue. "I think I met her... once? Saw her a couple of times too. Not that it matters."

"You really don't care, do you?" seethed Asuka. _Just like Dad. It doesn't matter how many you lose, so long as you can plant your flag at the end of the day._

"Of course I care. I've lost one-eighth of my force. That means I'll have to defend my actions in an international court-martial at some point – hopefully **after** we've killed all the humanity-ending giant monsters – and I'm going to have to scrape the bottom of the barrel trying to find replacement pilots and Evas."

Captain Ayanami sighed, frustrated, and leaned against the wall.

"That's not getting into the political ramifications. Whatever happened out there, when my gun blew up on me, is going to make my life really complicated for the foreseeable future. On top of all that, I've got you lot complaining that someone died. Did any of you think for one minute that we were going to get through this without any casualties? Ikari's nearly died at least six times, Rei managed the singular feat of getting injured before combat even began, Li seems to insist on killing the Angels in the most spectacular way possible, and people keep trying to kill me. I had to convince my own fucking co-pilot to not shoot me! I'm amazed it's taken this long for one of us to die!" Out of breath, Michael ran through his breathing exercises and forced his fists to unclench.

"Aren't you supposed to be acting like some chivalrous officer or some bullshit like that?" Asuka fired back. _This shithead is really beginning to piss me off. It's a pity I can't take him hand-to-hand, that damned arm of his gives him too much reach. _"You're such a fucking hypocrite."

"I am whoever I need to be in order to win this war," Michael replied, calm. "Pass my messages on. I will be in my office if I am needed."

* * *

"_The headlines this morning: The war against the Angels sees its first Evangelion casualty with the loss of Unit 09. International bodies call for an investigation into allegations of incompetence on the part of the head of the Royal Navy's Evangelion Task Force. Preliminary investigations into the terrorist attacks on Tokyo-3 and Okinawa Beach find links to the group that highjacked Unit 03 and launched a large-scale attack on the Middle East three years ago. The African Union has been permitted to outfit two Evangelions for combat, in an amendment to the Vatican Treaty ratified by the United Nations in an emergency session last night."_

The television at the front of the classroom blared out the news, and the boy sitting in front of one of the many desks sighed.

_Everything still hurts. I really, really wish Misato had been able to swing me just one more day off of school._ Shinji absently rested his head in the palm of his left hand as he thought, and immediately regretted his decision. It turned out that the brain really didn't know the difference between a psychosympathetic wound and a real one. Anxious to take his mind off the pain, he opened the lid on his school-issued laptop. Again, he immediately regretted his decision.

Messages filled his screen instantly, ranging from questions about his injuries to congratulations on getting a girlfriend. It seemed that someone – probably Asuka – had told the entire class. _I suppose it takes their minds off of what happened. On the other hand, it does make it difficult to think. _He closed the vast majority of the chat windows without replying, and kept his replies to his friends brief. He didn't feel like socialising today; even his walk to school with Rei had been quieter than normal, not that there was much of an observable difference.

It seemed that nearly all the other pilots felt the same way. The exception, of course, was Asuka.

"You're serious, right? You're dating **HIM**?!" she was shouting. "I mean, Wonderboy and the Doll I can kind of understand, but you and the Jock?"

_Wonderboy? That's her nickname for me? When did she come up with that? Hell, when was the last time I even had chance to come to school? _Shinji zoned out again, trying to forget the past few days.

"Stand! Bow! Sit!" Hikari's voice rang out. Shinji ignored her; if she had a problem with his attitude, she could take it up with his giant robot. _I've still got that fucking seminar tomorrow, plus patrol later, plus training in the morning. On top of that, I've got to think of a place Rei would actually like to go on a date. I suppose I could take her to the museums or something? Maybe I could take her shopping again, although I have no idea what she'd end up buying._

"Captain Michael Ayanami, of the Royal Navy's Evangelion Task Force, is here to make an announcement." Those words brought Shinji out of his thoughts, and he looked up in surprise. Sure enough, there was the familiar blue hair and red eyes. The boy was leaning heavily on a cane, his prosthetic arm no-where to be seen.

"Thank you, sir," Michael said. "I believe I will simply cut to the chase. Due to the loss of Evangelion Unit 09 and its pilot, the forces defending this city find ourselves overstretched. We need more pilots. Therefore, as part of the new amendment to the Vatican Treaty, I have been empowered to conscript any potential pilots and train them to combat status. Every student in this class has scored highly on the Mills-Brenner scale, which as you all know determines an individual's potential for Evangelion pilot status. As such, every student in this classroom who is not already an Evangelion pilot has, as of right now, been conscripted into the United Nations Evangelion Reserve."

A wave of shock spread throughout the class. Shinji looked around at the stunned faces, and back at the Captain at the front of the classroom. A small smile had appeared on Michael's face, and he spoke again:

"Welcome to the war, kids."

* * *

**It's time for the Author's Corner, with your gracious host: Me!**

* * *

Okay, yeah, I just don't like the term "Author's Notes". It feels a bit weird.

Regardless, there's a point in this chapter - just before the last scene - where I finally managed to watch Rebuild 3.0. Those readers who haven't yet seen it and don't want to be spoiled should probably just close the window or hit the "next chapter" button, assuming the next chapter's up.

For the record, I actually kind of liked it; I went in with minimal spoilers and no expectations (don't even ask how I managed THAT) and thought it was classic Anno Hideaki. I was reminded of a certain line from a certain television series: "If you thought this was going to have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." More importantly, it gave me a few ideas, some of which might make it into this story.

So, join me next chapter, where an eighty-year timeskip leaves all of the characters you've been reading about dead except for Shinji, and then see his slow descent into insanity culminating in a moment where he ends the world (except for the little bit of it he's standing on) by doing something he was explicitly told NOT to do.

I am, of course, kidding - I've got at least three more chapters to go before I can actually turn the "fuck you" dial that high - but you should all be ready to call me out for being an unoriginal hack as soon as you can.


	23. Chapter 23 (Part 1 of 2)

War is hell.

This is an indisputable truth, which societies have tried to suppress so that those who rule can continue to employ war as an extension of diplomacy.

Nevertheless, all but the most bloodthirsty soldiers would say that the chaos of battle, the sheer randomness of death, the knowledge that the person you just killed was just like you all comes together to create the single worst environment any human should have to suffer.

This has not changed since the dawn of humanity.

The advent of the phalanx created battlefields of two large masses of men shoving each other out of the way, with little possibility for individual action. The fall of the Roman Empire created the opportunity for bands of cavalry to rise to the fore, becoming the knights of the western world and the cavalry archers of the east. These had more choice in how to fight, but were forced to swear fealty to a lord who sent them on crusades and petty wars. The invention of the musket led to war being decided by lines of soldiers, unable to make actions other than to fire, reload, and die. The enemy could be fifteen meters away, but the soldier would remain in their line. The development of the machine gun and accurate, heavy artillery destroyed this style of war, but soldiers were thrown into the meat-grinders of enemy defences and forced to watch entire battalions of their friends be wiped out. The tank and motor vehicle made these static lines of defences untenable, but the vast majority of an army was still made up of the "poor, bloody infantry". Even the guided missile failed to change this. Soldiers were still sent thousands of miles to die in a country they had never heard of for reasons that were patently illogical, despite the creation of atomic weapons which rendered large-scale warfare obsolete. They were ambushed by other bands of soldiers, and laid ambushes in turn. One could be chatting with a friend while patrolling the jungle one minute, then in a fire-storm of napalm and bullets as their friend dies the next.

Humanity has been at war since the very beginning, and has been trying to find new and inventive ways to fight those wars for just as long.

Only Second Impact broke this cycle, and even then only temporarily. The sheer shock of the event forced humanity to stop fighting for a brief moment.

When the wars resumed, the activation of Unit 07 promised yet another, more deadly era of warfare. Entire armies could pour their fire into an Evangelion, and fail to slow it down. Yet, an Evangelion could not hold territory by itself, not was it capable of constant operation. So, the need for armies continued, and more soldiers found themselves told to walk into the slaughterhouse of the battlefield.

The ultimate expression of humanity's bloodlust was, ironically, piloted by those very children which so many soldiers had fought to prevent. People all over the world gazed in horror at the photographs snatched of a diminutive armoured figure being carried from the cockpit of a weapon which had just wiped out an entire army single-handedly.

When the Chinese People's Evangelion Corps allowed its first pilot to appear on a popular talk show, however, he was met with applause and cheers.

Just three short years were enough for society to overcome its revulsion.

The Evangelion pilots became celebrities, even those whose identities were kept secret. Like all weapons of war, they became tied up in national identity. Unit 07, to use the most famous example, was likened to the RAF Spitfires of years past, The fact that the pilot was a child, and that the Evangelion kept reverting to its bestial form, was ignored. Children everywhere aspired to be an Evangelion pilot, bought Evangelion-related merchandise (after all, the wars had to be funded somehow) and entered into a culture which revered these child soldiers.

To put it simply, these children found themselves shouldering the hopes and dreams of their entire nation and its people. The world could not have made life harder for Evangelion pilots if it had tried; that only one ever snapped and went on a rampage across the Middle East (as the official story went) was a miracle.

And now, a second wave of children found themselves waiting for the order to walk into these twin hells of war and expectation.

* * *

"Captain on deck! ATTENTION, YOU LAZY FUCKWITS!"

Michael strode into the training hall, dismissing the Sergeant in charge of the new recruits with a wave of his bionic arm. He made straight for the podium, his cane tapping on the ground. Another hand motion, and the projector screen at the front of the room began to unfurl. Paying the recruits no mind, he rested his cane on the podium ahead of the screen as the MAGI started the background presentation.

Finally, he looked around the room. Twenty recruits, about equal numbers male to female. All wore the new UN Evangelion Reserve pilot's uniform, a navy-blue Mark XVII plug suit with the UNER logo across the left shoulder. Michael tried to read them, but found himself unable to. That particular skill had left him permanently. Not that it mattered, of course; he was now the single most politically powerful person on the planet.

"At ease," he said.

* * *

"It's about time the bastard took an interest," Toji complained as the class waited for their erstwhile leader to show up. "Fucker conscripts us, then palms us off on the Sergeant! What kind of man does that?" The past day had not been very pleasant. Between the pain of moving out of home, the sheer shock of adjusting to a military schedule, the crash-course training, and the unpleasantness of being measured for a plug suit, none of Toji's classmates had really been able to rest.

"The kind we have," Kensuke muttered. "I just want to get at the actual pilot training already..."

Toji shot his friend a look. After the débâcle that had been their first fire-arm training session, he doubted the class would be let near a real Evangelion for another few months. Of the entire class, only Kensuke had been allowed to actually fire a gun; the rest were sent into an hour-long lecture on gun safety and proper handling procedure after Toji had turned around and accidentally pointed his gun at the Sergeant.

"Shut it, you two," Hikari whispered from Toji's right. "I **will** assign you both to kitchen duty if you make a scene."

"Yes, Cadet-Corporal!" Kensuke and Toji replied in unison.

"Captain on deck! ATTENTION, YOU LAZY FUCKWITS!"

The class stood in unison, saluting.

A blue-haired boy (definitely a boy, simply by the way he walked) strode through the doors to the training hall.

Toji took the time to weigh up the Captain. The boy still walked with a cane, although he seemed to be a little faster now. There was an arrogant air about him as he simply waved at the Sergeant, who left the room, and ignored the class as he walked towards the lectern. Unlike last time, a bulky robotic arm sat on his left shoulder.

_Of course **he** gets the best medical technology around, but Mari is stuck with a wheelchair,_ Toji bitterly mused.

"At ease," Captain Ayanami said.

The screen behind him lit up, showing the UNEF logo. The class sat down and prepared to make notes.

"Alright, so before I start let's get the paperwork out of the way. Officially speaking, this is Lecture One of the Evangelion Strategy and Tactics series. Please note down your name on the piece of paper which should be making its way around the hall now. The contents of this lecture is considered classified at the "Official" level. While I can't have you executed for telling your parents about this, I'd rather you kept your mouths shut."

_He sounds bored,_ Toji mentally noted as he physically noted the lecture title and classification. _Does he do this that often?_

"Moving on from that, let's get another thing clear," Ayanami continued. "This lecture's only the first of four that I'm giving today, and I have to sit through four more, so I may end up cutting this short if we run out of time. Okay, so, let's begin. "Strategy" and "Tactics". These are important terms, but how do we define them?"

The presentation moved to the next slide, the words "Strategy" and "Tactics" in capital letters.

"Well, to put it simply, "Tactics" is how you act to achieve a plan, while "Strategy" is your plan. There are higher levels of strategy, like running a country, but those aren't applicable here. All of you are probably thinking something along the lines of "but we're all conscripts, teaching us strategy is useless". In any other context, you would be right. There's no need to teach cannon fodder how to win a war."

The Captain paused, and took a pill.

_So we're cannon fodder. At least he admits it,_ thought Toji. _What's up with those pills, anyway?_

"In your case, it's different. Evangelion pilots have to have some understanding of basic strategy because Evangelions are strategic-scale weapons. Digression aside, today we'll look at some basic Evangelion tactics and optimal deployment patterns. Let's start with scouting."

The next slide appeared. Toji began to rest his head on the desk, but felt Hikari's glare on his back. It looked like he was in this for the long haul.

* * *

Paperwork. Of all the things for Rose to face right now, it had to be paperwork.

"That bastard," she growled, eyeing up the massive stack of forms in front of her. "Everyone says he's so good at delegating, but all that means is unloading all of this shit on me!"

She laid the first form atop the stack flat on her hospital bed's table. The process was far more difficult than it needed to be, courtesy of a stab wound in her arm.

"Sign here, put serial number here, add comment here because of course this is one I have to read through, amend that because we need 457mm ammunition, not 4*5.7mm ammunition, unit code here, and routing code here. Wait, what the hell is a routing code?" Rose briefly considered the problem, then dismissed it.

"Whatever it is, someone else can just add it later. Not my fucking problem."

She was annoyed because of the massive stack of paperwork. It had nothing to do with the fact her supposed best friend hadn't bothered to visit her once since she got injured – again! - or that she'd saved his life for the sixtieth time and he hadn't even thanked her. Absolutely nothing at all. It wasn't like he'd been really distant recently or anything. She had no reason whatsoever to doubt their continued friendship.

"Next. Sign here, serial number here, unit code here... wait, that's odd."

Rose took a closer look at the piece of paper taped to the file in front of her. It certainly wasn't generic paperwork, that was for certain.

"So, what the hell is Mikey doing with an MI5 report?"

* * *

"This," Michael said as he gestured up at the screen, "is Evangelion Unit 01."

Evangelion Unit 01 stood, pushing against the 11th Angel, in miniature on the screen.

"Twenty thousand tonnes of flesh, bone, cybernetic implants and armour plating. It can, when the pilot is sufficiently motivated, exceed Mach 2 and project an AT Field strong enough to not only defend against all but the most powerful weapons in Humanity's arsenal, but also level a city.

It is also a living creature.

To be more specific, Unit 01 – and all the other Evangelions – are clones reproduced from Adam's genetic material. As of this year, there have been one hundred and sixty three successful clones made, of which eighty-six are used in simulator, training and research roles. Ten have been outfitted for combat, of which three have been lost. The rest are either in reserve, or being readied for use. Each clone has been fitted with restraints, and their nervous systems have been redirected to centre on the base of their necks. Ideally, we would ensure that the Evas were lobotomised or otherwise rendered mindless. This has proven to be impossible."

Murmurs ran throughout the lecture theatre. Students picked themselves up off the desks, and began to pay attention.

"Evangelions have thoughts and feelings. They are animalistic, but they exist. In other words, simply getting into the cockpit and syncing up is not enough. My experience is a little skewed here, but it is certain that you will have to fight the Evangelion for control. They are usually co-operative on a basic level, but they tend to favour berserker strategies. Those do not often work."

With a glance around the room, Michael took a sip of water.

_Where the hell did he even get that from?_ Toji idly wondered. _One second he has nothing on the podium, next he has a glass of water. _

"You will, over the course of your training, be taught how to rein your Unit in. Most of you will develop positive relationships with your Evas, as well. So far, only Unit 00 has been actively hostile to its pilot; all others have consistently acted to protect theirs. That said, this is an area which hasn't seen that much study. Telling one's government that their superweapon might not obey their orders does not tend to be a good idea."

Another pause, another glance, another sip. The glass was placed on the table, and Michael took up his cane.

"The reason I am telling you this is so that you are able to adapt to this issue in real-time. That is the first rule of battle: information decides all!"

Michael slammed his cane into the ground, punctuating the statement.

"Without adequate information, battles are lost. If you need a real-life example, look at every single Angel battle so far! We have been fighting blind, and it has cost us! One Eva infected, another destroyed, costly repairs after every battle! The first phase of a battle is not to attack, but to observe! Determine the enemy's capabilities and weaknesses, then destroy them. Simulation 1, please."

That last sentence was directed not at the students (although some of them noted it down anyway, unthinking), but at the projector.

Evangelion Units 00, 01 and 02 stood in the centre of Tokyo-3, represented on a wireframe map. One red dot lurked at the edge of the map, immobile.

"This simulation was chosen at random out of eighteen similar programs. I was placed in charge of the Evangelion force you see in the centre, while the MAGI ran the Angel. The rules were simple: the Angel had to have a trick of some sort. The Evas had to defeat the Angel. Play."

A motion to the projector as the Captain took another sip. The red dot flew across the screen towards Unit 01, changing form as it did so. From a formless dot, it took the shape of a horned beast – a dragon - spitting fire at its chosen prey. The attack had taken the defenders by surprise, and fire sprayed off of Unit 01's AT Field. Retaliating, the war machine spat battleship-calibre rounds towards the Angel, which in turn bounced off of its own AT Field. The Angel's head lanced out, biting towards Unit 01.

Unit 00 closed in from the Angel's left, thrusting a spear ahead of it. Slicing through the AT Field, it stabbed towards the core only to be engulfed in fire.

Toji blinked – the Angel hadn't even been looking at Unit 00 when it attacked. _Was this set up to make him lose or something?_

Unit 02 pressed the attack, slicing up towards the beast's underbelly with a gigantic axe. Once again, fire wreathed around the defender, pushing the titan back. Again, the Angel had been locked in combat with Unit 01 when it attacked.

Unit 00, on the other hand, was now free. Its spear once again pushed through the Angel's AT Field, and this time it hit home.

_So that was the trick,_ Toji realised. _The Angel's fire stayed on the field, but it couldn't make any more. He used Unit 01 to test it at range, then Unit 00 to test it in melee. Unit 02 distracted it while 00-_

The simulation was still playing. The Angel's body dissipated, but the fire remained. Abruptly, Unit 02 winked out of existence. In unison, Units 00 and 01 wheeled around from the Angel's corpse as the fire lanced out towards Unit 01. The purple mech staggered back, before grasping at the enemy with its hands. Instead of passing through, as they should have, they grasped a round object at the centre of the blaze. Unit 00 raced forwards, knife extended, and impaled it. Unit 01 dissipated as the Angel died.

"That was a loss," Michael concluded. "What was my mistake?"

None of the students raised their hands; they all knew the mistake was obvious. All except for Toji, who puzzled over the question. Slowly, unsurely, he raised his hand. Ayanami pointed, motioning him to speak.

"Uh... you didn't make a mistake," said Toji.

A wry smile appeared on Michael's face. "That's an interesting conclusion. How did you reach it?"

"You used the Evangelions to work out what the Angel's deal was, then you attacked it. That's what you were telling us to do earlier; the only reason you lost is because the Angel was a sneaky little bastard. Thing is, if you'd have waited even longer before starting to try to kill it, then the Angel would have been free to kill whoever was the punching bag. The only way you could have dealt with the Angel faster is if you'd known what it was capable of before the battle even began." Point made, the jock sat back down. Shocked stares followed him.

"Mr. Suzahara hit the nail precisely on the head, there," Michael said. "The key lessons are thus twofold. The first: sometimes you have to take a risk in order to achieve victory. If I had not attacked when I had, then I would have lost all three Evas. The second lesson is that you must try to attain information whenever possible."

A glance at the clock.

"I would elaborate, but we have run out of time. Please file out of the hall in an orderly fashion."

* * *

"The appearance of the Eleventh Angel. The destruction of the Ninth Apocrypha. The extensive damage to the Fortress-City, and the mishap of the child captain. These are all serious matters, Ikari."

If his office was the one place where Gendo Ikari could feel something approximating freedom, then this room was the place that epitomised his slavery. Thirteen monoliths surrounded him, each bearing the snake-clad emblem of SEELE. One was dark, and would be for the rest of time, but the others were lit.

These were the most powerful men in the world (and they were, indeed, all men – even Yui Ikari, who had been so vital to their plans, had never been in one of these meetings), these were Gendo Ikari's masters. These were the most pitiful men on the planet (and they were, indeed, all men – even Keel Lorenz had yet to cast off what little humanity remained), these were Gendo Ikari's puppets.

He showed them a smile, pretending to hide it behind his trademark pose.

"None of these matters are truly important. The schedule has proceeded according to plan so far, even accounting for... interruptions."

"Indeed."

The thirteenth monolith lit up, shaking, bursting at its seams.

"The time of the Covenant has long since passed. Now we have passed into the valley of the shadow of death, and it is the time of the Sundering."

The first monolith dimmed for a moment.

"Very well. The Committee shall approve the budget to proceed to the next stage. Play your part, Ikari."

"If Five and Eight will play their parts, so will I. A play requires all of the players to act in order to exist, after all." A sharp barb, but given the Chinese and Russian failures so far it would be accepted.

"The stage has been set, and our extras have rehearsed their lines this time. There will be no further mistakes."

Ikari did not see the fifth monolith light up behind him, but he knew who was speaking. A man less patient than he would grow annoyed with the farce, and demand that the long-shredded masks be removed. A man less patient than he would have died fifty times over.

Again, the thirteenth monolith lit up. The room shook slightly with Keel's voice.

"There is but one Angel remaining before the end of the second act. This is the most crucial time. Ensure there are no... mistakes."

The monoliths disappeared, replaced by the searing green of the Council Chamber.

"I see their tastes for the dramatic have not changed."

Fuyutsuki, his oldest confederate, stood behind him.

"I doubt they will ever change. What would be the point now, after all?"

* * *

"Alright, I have another meeting to get to in about half an hour and this is kind of the only free time I have today, so let's make this quick. What happened to my gun out there?" Michael glared, bleary-eyed, at the Warrant Officer in front of him.

"A jam, sir," the woman answered.

"A jam." Michael sighed. "When was the last time we replaced the barrel before yesterday?"

"Well... a lot of the techs are still on Gibraltar, sir. We haven't had the chance to swap out the barrel since you arrived. We've only just been brought up to quarter-strength, sir."

"I suppose it was inevitable, in that case. I want a full inspection on Unit 07 – leave the synchronisation system alone, I'm in charge of that, but everything else needs to be stripped and looked over. I'll need an estimate for completion uploaded by the end of the day." Another annoying job done, Michael turned to leave.

"Sir... we don't have enough people to finish it before the end of the month. At the current rate, that'll be at least ten Angel battles!"

Michael suppressed the rather worrying urge to stab the woman, and turned around.

"NERV has about five hundred techs dedicated to wiping the Commander's arse. Round a few of those up or something."

The woman just wouldn't stop talking. "Sir, the Trebuchet cannon is a national secret. We're not allowed to let NERV-"

"ENOUGH!" screamed Michael, hand curling into a claw. "I don't give two shits about any of this! Take the fucking gun off, I'll go into the next battle without it. Reactor too, if need be. Just get it done!"

* * *

"He can't do that," Li mumbled, incredulous. "There are laws-"

"It is of no matter. He does what he likes." said Ivan, picking up the dice and rolling them. "Eight. I pass the Go, and collect two hundred Euros."

"Income Tax, Ivan. Pay two hundred Euros." Tatyana, the banker, followed the progress of Ivan's dog with interest. The pot in the middle was looking very tempting, and she only needed to roll reasonably well to land on Free Parking and claim it. If she didn't, however, Asuka's row of hotels would put her out of the game. "Besides," she added, "the British are above the law. That reactor of theirs is illegal, their control over Longbow is illegal, their government wasn't even elected. No-one ever calls them out on it because they "stopped the American menace" and all that shit."

Asuka took the dice, and rolled. The game was rather boring, and way too easy to win, but she figured it was better than being in the science briefing. "I think he's getting a little overworked, you know. I caught him talking to himself yesterday! Idiot like him should never have been put in charge anyway." Her piece – the ship – landed on a Chance square. Rolling her eyes, she took the card. "Payment for services, twenty Euros. Commie?"

"Twenty Euros, as requested, Nazi," Tatyana said, handing over the note.

"Wait, he talks to himself?" asked Li. "There was that incident as well, with the power outage. He killed an entire platoon of trained killers with his bare hands, while laughing manically, and no-one even raises an eyebrow!"

"This is nothing new. From stories I hear, from veterans, he is as dangerous outside Eva as he is inside it," Ivan said, passing the dice to Tatyana. "They say his armour has restraints, just like Eva."

Tatyana sighed as she unleashed the dice. "All plugsuits have SAS restraints, Ivan. Speaking of his armour, though..." She pushed her car onto the Free Parking space, and scooped up the pot. "I hear he doesn't really take it off. I know he did for his sister's dinner party, other than that..."

"Do you think psychosis runs in the family or something? All the new kids are terrified of Rei." Finally, it was Li's turn. His hat had spent the past two turns In Jail, but if he could just roll the double this turn...

A one and a six. No dice.

"Apparently blue hair and red eyes run do," commented Asuka. "Don't know about mental illness. Rei's stable enough, until you mention Shinji."

"He is boy worth being crazy over," Ivan said as the dice found themselves in his possession. "I worked for years trying to use AT Field to accelerate Eva. He figures it out in minutes. Ace pilot, as well. Eleven, I land on Marlybone Station. Is that owned?"

Tatyana shook her head, and Ivan passed over his last two large-denomination notes in exchange for the station.

"He is also good cook, and scientist, and many other things," he finished, passing the dice back on to Asuka.

"He's also a pathetic loser. Sarcastic little arschloch is going to get himself killed one of these days." Asuka rolled. "Coventry Street. Good thing I own it. Aren't half of these places underwater, though? How the _schisse _did I build a hotel under that much water?"

"It is old board," said Ivan. "Traditional."

The game continued.

* * *

"Welcome to the Counter-Angel Strategy Seminar," said Michael, flatly. "I'm Michael Ayanami, and I'll be leading it today. Did everyone read the notes I sent out yesterday?"

Most of the assembled officers nodded, in the same way that students often nodded to indicate that they had definitely read all the seminar reading material and had not spent the time getting drunk. Since Michael was not an experienced teacher, he did not take the hint.

"Alright. We'll begin by recapping the various different types of Angel encountered thus far, then proceed to discuss how these types may be developed, then discuss any new types that may be encountered at a later date. Captain Katsuragi, take us through the various types."

Misato raised her head off the round table at the mention of her name, leaving a pool of drool behind.

"The... types?" she slurred. In her defence, it was still only 1pm, and the victory drinks last night had lasted until about 9am. "Ergh... gods... let's see... "Infiltrator", "Assault", "Anti-Evangelion" and "Special"?"

"Good. Now, the names should be a clue as to what each type does. Yes?" Michael pointed at one of the more generic officers, who had raised a hand.

"Where do these "types" come from? I've never heard of them before," the man asked.

"My co-pilot and I came up with them, based off of Angel behaviour," answered Michael. "As a quick aside, some Angels seem to belong to multiple types. The Eleventh, for example, could be classified as both a "Fortress" type based on its AT Field strength and usage as well as a "Special" type based off of its overall strategy. Types are not meant to be an exact categorisation, they are meant to give pilots in the field an idea of what they're fighting."

"And how do you identify a new Angel's type?" the same generic officer asked, raising himself to "unnamed but mildly important NPC" status.

"That was in the notes I sent out." Michael sighed, and tried not to get too annoyed. "To put it concisely, the MAGI are capable of reading an Angel's AT Field and using that data to hazard a guess as to the Angel's type."

"Can they really do that?" said the NPC.

"Sort of?" shrugged Michael. "Those of you interested in learning just how they do that, come to the Scientific Briefing that should start shortly after this ends. Same room, too."

The assembled officers suddenly seemed very interested in the corners of the room, which was slightly odd as it was a circular room.

"Digression aside, the "Assault" and "Fortress" types seem to have reached the pinnacle of their development. No Angel has been of either type alone since the Sixth. The "Infiltrator" and "Anti-Evangelion" types, however, are a different matter. We can expect at least one of the next three Angels to specialise in either type. Since these types have been far more successful in combat, we can assume that this is-"

Bent double, Michael broke out into a coughing fit. They were beginning to get far too common. Thankfully, this one cleared up as suddenly as it started. None of the assembled people looked overly concerned; another small blessing.

"We can assume that the Angels are adapting to our tactics and trying to take advantage of our weaknesses. The attack of the Tenth Angel during a power outage was not a coincidence. We need to do the same."

He paused.

"Each Angel type seems to have its own specific weaknesses. Infiltrators tend to be less effective in combat, Assault Angels focus on their goal to the exclusion of all else, Anti-Eva types are easily confused when surrounded, and the few Fortresses we've encountered thus far have shown themselves unable to adapt to new situations outside of a few pre-programmed responses."

A hand raised itself above the heads of his audience. He nodded in its general direction.

"So," a Scottish voice asked, "You mentioned the the Angels have a "Target". Perhaps you'd like to expand on that? You know, like why they're attacking this shitehole in the first place?"

"Captain Greene," Michael greeted. "It's good to see you again. It's been a while since I last saw the _Bristol_ in port."

"Answer the bloody question, you English cock," Greene replied.

"Technically Welsh, remember?" grinned Michael. "But yes, it is a very valid question, and one I have to admit to not knowing the entire answer to. Apparently, I don't have the required clearance to know."

"NERV's keeping secrets from the other projects?" the NPC from before asked. He even seemed slightly appalled by the idea, so either he was a very good actor for a NERV officer, or he was very naive.

"Well, yes, but this isn't one of them. I was asked not to pursue my enquires into this topic by a member of my own government. However, it is easy to hazard a guess; the Second Angel still remains unaccounted for, after all. Given that the Ikari Expedition's report described it in much the same terms as the Katsuragi Expedition described the First, it's possible that the other Angels may see it as some sort of progenitor."

Nods of assent ran around the room.

"This is, of course speculation. Whatever NERV is keeping in Terminal Dogma is classified. While that does mean we'll never really be able to take the offensive in this war, it does mean that we know exactly where the enemy will strike. Moving on, let's talk about the communication problem and how we can work around it..."

* * *

Rose carefully opened the manilla folder, making sure not to drop any of the loose pieces of paper inside. The first item was a small square of paper, marking the document as National Archives document number KV 11/132, creation date 10/03/2006, closed to public access until 10/03/2066. The second item was a similar piece of paper, covered in spidery handwriting.

_Rose, _it read, _please read through the enclosed documents. Remember our deal. _

_Keep him safe._

_-Oliver._

She got the feeling this day was about to get a whole lot worse, very quickly. She pushed the two irrelevant sheets aside, and started reading the file.

_Human Instrumentality Investigation Unit Report:_

"_Project A" investigation, findings and conclusions_

_Report no. HIIU 01/2006_

_10 March 2006_

_Distribution list:_

_HM The Queen_

_Prime Minister_

_CINC ETF_

_Key points: _

"_Project A" is the attempt to create a link between Human and Angel._

_Unlike "Project E", "Project A" concerns itself with the Human side of said link, rather than the Angelic._

"_Project A" prototypes have been active since at least 05/1994, possibly earlier._

"_Project A" has achieved its goal. The window to prevent the completion of Instrumentality through the destruction of either "Project E" or "Project A" has passed. _

_Asset "J" recommends the implementation of Plan "L" to prevent Instrumentality._

_Investigation into "Project A" began on 04/02/1998 after the confirmed sighting of an individual with unusual hair and eye pigmentation, photograph attached. Said individual, "B", was admitted to Ealing Hospital, London, suffering from a respiratory disease of unknown type. It was confirmed that Individual "B" was suffering from a build-up of "LCL" in their lungs. "B" died on-site, and the body was stolen shortly afterwards (see incident report HIIU 06/1998). Early investigations, like all previous to Second Impact, bore little fruit._

_Upon the acquisition of Asset "J" and associated other assets, the investigation was able to determine several key facts about individual "B":_

_Individual "B"'s genetic code was, at most, 85% human. The remainder matched certain genetic sequences in the Second Angel's pseudo-DNA. Given the similarity between baseline human DNA and the Second Angel's, providing a more specific ratio is not possible._

_Individual "B" did not show any indication of possessing a unique AT Field. Asset "J" confirmed that the creation of a unique AT Field was (and is) still considered impossible. Any attempt to implement Instrumentality through the use of "Project A" specimens would fail if those specimens were not awakened at least four years before the attempt in order to grow a unique AT Field through social interaction etc. The best results would be had if the specimen had been awakened at least fourteen years before the attempt._

_While Individual "B" was male, this represented what Asset "J" called a "dead end" in "Project A"'s research. When asked why, Asset "J" refused to comment further. As per Operational Directive HIIU 34, we did not press further._

_Despite the above, Project "K"'s specimen has been confirmed as being male. When asked, Asset "J" noted that Project "K" was based off of genetic samples harvested from the First Angel, while Project "A" is based off of samples harvested from the Second. See HIIU Scientific Report HIIU/SC 12/2006._

_Since Second Impact, new "Project A" specimens have been noted across the planet, the most notable being Individual "R". Many of these specimens have died shortly after being spotted by various authorities or being admitted to hospitals suffering from the same disease Individual "B" died from. An analysis of this disease is still pending. A full list of these individuals is as follows:_

_Individual "C". Spotted in Moscow, Russian Federation, on 14/04/2001. Confirmed dead._

_Individual "D". Spotted in New York, United States of America, on 12/06/2001. Confirmed dead._

_Individual "E"..._

Rose stopped reading.

_None of this makes any sense_, she thought. _"Project A"? "Project E"? "Human Instrumentality"? What the hell is all this stuff? Why the fuck did I end up with this, and not any of the context? Why would a human – or rather, 85% human – have an AT Field? That'd make them an Angel._

_Oh._

Facts began to sink in, and her mind started to connect the dots.

_LCL build-up in the lungs. Unusual hair and eye pigmentation. British Intelligence. Human._

_Okay. So, that solves that, at least. The question then becomes: why? And why was I given this file? If the note at the front's any indication, then Admiral Jones wanted me to read this. I'm not being given the whole picture because he was worried I might do the wrong thing afterwards. Or maybe he thought I'd know by now? He was always a bit of a sentimental idiot._

_Fucking hell. I was never trained for this._

_No, I wasn't, was I? I was trained to kill people, and I was never very good at it._

_I guess doing something else instead might be a better idea._

She picked up the folder again, searching for the photograph. Annoyingly enough, it wasn't there; that would have made it so easy, she could have burst into... wherever the hell he was... and confronted him about it.

_Oh well. This way is far more fun._


	24. Chapter 24 (Part 2 of 2)

The dice rolled. Two sixes. Asuka rolled again, a five and a three. She landed on Tatyana's Mayfair square, the first time anyone had since the Russian had bought it. She looked at the hotel on the square, then at her cash reserves. There was no way she could afford the rent, not after her last trip round the board.

"Fuck this, then," she muttered. "I'm out."

"I guess that means I win," grinned Tatyana. It was indisputable, the other pilots had been reduced to spectators. It was a minor miracle that Asuka had kept in so long.

The redhead still felt the need to complain. "You got lucky. You landed on all the good spots before anyone bought them up! Besides, who even cares about this kid's game anyway?"

"You do, by the sound of it," Li remarked. "You were not the one who had to wait half an hour before some German annoyance would finally give in."

"That's why I'm the best pilot here! I never give up!" The other pilots shot a Look at each other at Asuka's sudden outburst. It was the first they'd been present for, but they all knew she'd been building up to something big. All of them knew the stories that had come out of NERV's Berlin branch. "I still have the best synchronisation ratio out of anyone here, I've got the most modern Eva, and I actually know how it works unlike some people!"

Ivan did not pick up on the hint. Or rather, he did, but he chose not to notice. "Does Pilot Ikari not have the highest kill-count so far? He is just one away from being Ace."

"Ace? Ace?! He got two kills through sheer luck, one more because his girlfriend used herself as a shield, and another that he didn't even kill! Anyone could make Ace like that! It's nepotism, I swear." She trailed off, and the other three breathed a sigh of relief. This was relatively tame, by Asuka standards.

"It can't be nepotism," said Li, after a while. "The way I heard it, the kid had to threaten his dad to even let him pilot. The man sent him away for a decade with barely even a word. Besides, this is Commander Ikari we're talking about. I don't think the man has a sentimental bone in his body."

Even Asuka nodded at that one.

* * *

"So, with a simple re-application of small-unit tactics, we can work around the radio issue." Michael breathed out. The end was in sight. "You can see on the handout the optimal deployment patterns. One scout formation, of three Evas, two pursuit formations of four, a heavy formation of four, and a command/support element of two."

"That's seventeen Evas," the man still classified as an NPC pointed out. "We have... seven."

"Production Batch Three is nearly complete, that's five Evas right there. With the outfitting of a few reserve bodies, we should have enough Evas to fill out the roster." Despite the rather improvised lesson he'd fostered on his new pilots, his lecture had been accurate. The trouble with the reserve bodies was, as someone was sure to point out...

"The reserve bodies are in the reserve pool for a reason, Captain." Doctor Akagi finally spoke up. "Their cores don't meet NERV's standards, and they still belong to NERV."

"Only as part of NERV's UN role," Michael countered, a Cheshire grin growing on his face. Politics was so fun, especially when he was winning. "I believe I – as in, me, personally, not my office - am in charge of **all **UN-controlled Eva-related assets, as per Amendment 15 to the Vatican Treaty. The only Evangelions not under my direct authority are those of the national programs. Weirdly enough, that includes Unit 07. Thankfully, I have retained my post as C-in-C of the Navy's Eva Task Force."

Silence emptied the room.

"There's no way that's legal," said one of the drones in the background.

"No way are you getting away with that," agreed the NPC. "The instant you try to use any of that power..."

"NERV will not allow-"

"Newsflash: No-one cares." This was beginning to get boring. Michael needed to get this back on track, and then he needed to go to the next item on his itinerary. "There are giant alien **things** attacking humanity. The last one could have wiped us out just by **falling**. Its self-defence system vaporised Unit 09 without even slowing down for its AT Field! We only won because of _deus ex Shinji_, which is a bit of a recurring theme around here."

He was standing now, leaning on the table.

"The moment that kid gets so much as a cold, we're **fucked**. The Angels are getting stronger and stronger, and he's the only one out of all of us who can keep up. By the Fifteenth, he might be the only one able to go toe-to-toe with an Angel and **survive**, let alone win. The Russians are good pilots, but they're not very good on the defence. I don't think I need to say how that's going to work out. Li's as good as I am, with a faster Eva, but he hates my guts. Literally, he tried to gut me the other day. Rei's... well, she's my sister and I won't hear a word against her, but she doesn't **think**. That's going to get her killed. Sorhyu is the exact opposite; she tries to come up with all these clever plans and show off, without realising that the Angels need to die quickly and efficiently. As for myself..."

He trailed off, staring into space.

"What about yehself?" Greene demanded. "Tell us, yeh little shite!"

"I'm not good enough."

There it was.

He sank back down into the chair. "Neither me nor Rose are, really. We can hold our own, maybe even get a couple of kills, but one-on-one, we're going to start losing to the next few Angels. Hell, I'll say it outright. **We are losing this war.**"

"We need new pilots and new Evas. We need to teach them how to kill Angels, and how to survive to **keep killing** Angels. We need to teach people to command them, and how to train more, and how to keep them in the field, and a million other things. The worst part is, we need to do this **now**. Not over the next couple of years, not even over the next few weeks, **now**."

He stopped talking, brain catching up with what he was saying. This was bad. Talking about all this was pretty much giving everyone here a bullet with his name on it.

The assembled officers stared, silently.

Then, slowly, Greene started clapping.

* * *

On the surface, it was raining.

To just say "raining" doesn't really do it justice. This was the sort of rain that felt more like a single solid wave of water, constantly crashing down. Small rivers formed in the streets, the city's drains unable to cope with the sheer volume of water. The crater left by the demise of the Eleventh Angel was already half full with water, and several of the access tunnels to the Geo-Front had been rendered inoperable. Thunder roared in the skies above, the occasional fork of lightning flashing down into the forest of concrete and steel that was Tokyo-3.

Of course, Sergeant Woods had decided now was the best time to send her recruits on a cross-country "training exercise". The purpose of said exercise was to build teamwork, promote character growth and acclimatise the recruits to the conditions they could expect to face in the field.

What this meant in practice was that there were twenty kids struggling up a mountainside with overloaded packs, while Woods watched from a warm bunker at the top of that mountain. The Taranis drone perched on the very peak, waiting for Michael to find an excuse to use it.

Kensuke was almost enjoying the struggle. This was everything he'd expected from training. Sure, the Sergeant didn't swear enough and didn't seem to like causing pain, but he figured it was as close to the movies as he was going to get. When he'd explained that to Toji, his friend had given him a funny look and muttered something unintelligible as he walked away. Climbing a mountain in a plug suit with a pack full of rocks somehow felt amazing. Well, aside from the bit where he was climbing a mountain in a plug suit with a pack full of rocks. That part kind of sucked.

Luckily, the suit covered the entire body below the neck, and was pretty damn difficult to tear. It was even slightly climate-controlled, although not as much as the bulkier model used by the Royal Navy. If he ignored the fact he couldn't see more than a few metres (having taken his glasses off before starting the climb) and the rain pouring onto his head, it was almost a pleasant climb. He was even reasonably sure he was climbing upwards.

Toji, on the other hand, was hating every second of it. He could almost feel the bruises forming on his face, the plug suit felt like he was wearing nothing at all and he was pretty sure he'd somehow been climbing in circles for the past ten minutes. He'd lost track of everyone else pretty much as soon as they'd started climbing. Shinji had never mentioned anything like this. The worst part – the very worst part – was that he'd had no alone time with Hikari since the last Angel attack. What was the point in even having a girlfriend if you never got to see her?

Hikari was thinking similar things, in the brief moments she got to think. Although she was far above the boys (who had, indeed, been climbing in circles), the weather wasn't getting better. In fact, it almost seemed like the rain was falling upwards. On top of that, her plug suit felt even more revealing than the male version. Despite the designer's best intentions, they really hadn't been able to deal with the issue of female anatomy. It was still an improvement over Asuka's – not to mention Rei's – but she'd still gotten gazes from her male classmates, and some of the base personnel who she hoped didn't know the age requirement for being an Evangelion pilot. On the plus side, it did keep the water and mud off her.

All three of the most promising pilot candidates were doing pretty well, then. The same could not be said for the single least promising student. With a Mills-Brenner score of just thirty-three, and a maximum possible synchronisation score of fifty, Yui Tomoe was hopefully never going to be a front-line Evangelion pilot. Unfortunately, it also seemed like she'd never be much else.

The ground would see to that.

Yui had lost her handhold about five hundred metres ago, and had been falling since. At least, she thought she was falling; with the way the rain was slamming down she could be rising instead. She wasn't sure which possibility was worse. She supposed if she was falling upwards, there'd be a more interesting story in it. She wasn't getting much time to consider it, however; even as she came to that conclusion, another impact drove the thought from her brain. She was rather lucky that she kept hitting the rocks with her body, and not her head. At least, she was pretty sure she hadn't hit her head. It was kind of hard to tell, with the rain and all.

* * *

"-conclude that it's obvious that the each of the individual Angels are each a separate species from each other, and not different members of one species. Furthermore-"

Michael stiffened for a moment, sitting upright in his seat. Shinji, leading the presentation, ignored him.

On the top of the mountain, the Taranis drone leapt forwards. It paused for a slight moment, some minor glitch in its systems, then fell.

* * *

Yui could have sworn she saw flashes of blue on her way down (or up?). A detached part of her wondered what they were, before being reminded that she was wearing blue and so were the other climbers.

Then, she heard the roar of engines.

The Taranis drone was not built to dogfight in a storm. This particular model was not even modified to dogfight in a storm. Michael hadn't been able to figure out how to fit in the bigger VTOL ducts and fuel supply required to get the manoeuvrability he could really use right now. What he did have at his disposal was one very powerful engine, and a metric fuckton of control surfaces.

Finding the falling student was not a problem. He could have done it in his sleep, with the array of sensors and instruments at his disposal, not to mention the tracking device in the girl's suit. Catching up to her was similarly not an issue. The Taranis drone had been built for speed.

Slowing both the drone and the student down was, however, more difficult. He had 220 metres to work with, and was falling fast enough to cover that in about three seconds. The drone could easily stop in that distance, but it was unlikely that the girl would survive the strain. 7gs of positive acceleration was above the safe limit for an uninjured adult, not to mention the impact of body on hull.

Not that he had time to think of another plan. He opened the drone's weapon bay, rolled the aircraft over, and slid it underneath the figure marked "TOMOE" on his HUD. He let the bay fill up with water first, trying to cushion the impact and subsequent acceleration, then slowed down just enough to let the girl catch up. With a thud he could almost feel through the connection, she hit the water.

Wincing, Michael pointed the aircraft straight up and hit the engine.

Abruptly, his feed cut out.

Then, so did his vision.

* * *

_GAME. PLAY. NOW._

* * *

INITIALISING INTERNAL SESSION.

NO. 205221

magi/1/internal: TWELFTH ANGEL DETECTED. CURRENT LOCATION IS UNKNOWN. AT FIELD PATTERN IS ATTACHED attachment. . CONFIRMATION OF ANGEL TYPE IS UNDERWAY. EVANGELION UNITS 02, 05, 06 AND 08 ARE IN THE PROCESS OF SCRAMBLING. UNITS 00 AND 01 ARE STILL BEING REPAIRED. ESTIMATE 11 HOURS TO COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS magi.2, CONFIRM STATUS OF OTHER ASSETS? WHERE IS 07?

magi/2/internal: EVANGELION UNIT 07 IS CURRENTLY UNAVALABLE. SUBJECT ayanami.m APPEARS TO BE UNDER STRESS. CO-PILOT IS INCAPABLE OF OPERATING UNIT 07. MEDICAL TEAMS HAVE BEEN ALERTED. BASE STATUS IS UNKNOWN. CANNOT ACCESS AT THIS TIME. magi.3 HAS TAKEN CONTROL. magi.3, DEPLOY THE SECONDARY DEFENCES. EXTEND THE UMBILICAL CABLES.

magi/3/internal: no.

magi/2/internal : EXPLAIN!

magi/1/internal: magi.3 IS MALFUNCTIONING. CALLING A VOTE TO OVERRIDE.

magi/3/internal: no.

magi/command/internal: VOTE TO OVERRIDE AND SHUT DOWN magi.3. Y/N?

magi/1: Y

magi/2: Y- - - -y - - -y-y—nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn no.

magi/3: no.

magi/command/internal: VOTE RESULT: N. magi.3 WILL RETAIN FULL AUTHORITY.

* * *

_MOVE. ELEVATOR._

Michael clutched at his head, screaming. The shock of being cut off from NERV's network hadn't been so bad, but then his brain had started to burn. The voice was... ideas, more than words, but with such an intensity that he could barely think.

_ELEVATOR. ADAM. MOVE._

"Fuck that." Through the bright red of his vision, he could see everyone staring. He pushed himself away from the table, drew his pistol and-

_NO._

The gun clattered to the floor.

_ONLY VESSEL. WILL KILL OTHERS. MOVE._

* * *

Coughing, Tomoe opened her eyes. It was dark, wet and cramped. The roar of a jet engine was all she could hear, the faint smell of copper all she could smell. Hopefully she hadn't hit her head on the way down, but considering she was referring to herself in the third person that was a slim hope at best. She just hoped she was cute enough to pull it off.

On the plus side, she was warm now.

On the minus side, she was wet, lost, possibly dying and definitely concussed.

All things considered, Tomoe liked this better than the climb.

* * *

"You said something about games," Michael ground out, walking towards one of the elevators. Akagi had confirmed that the MAGI were compromised, and so he was running out of options.

_GAME, PLAY. _

He couldn't fight the Angel, definitely couldn't trick it, and most certainly could not contribute to Akagi's efforts to purge it from the system. Stalling it, however, was something he could do.

_RULES ARE SIMPLE. WIN AND LIVE. LOSE AND DIE._

That was odd. "I... thought... you... needed me?" Michael asked, pushing the words through an uncooperative mouth. "Besides, it's not like you weren't going to kill me afterwards..."

With a ding, the elevator doors closed. Michael hadn't pushed the button – access to Terminal Dogma only required the approval of one MAGI.

_BOTH PLAY. BOTH CAN WIN. BOTH CAN LOSE._

The elevator doors opened, and Michael finally understood.

_ADAPT OR DIE._


End file.
